Security in wireless communication

Security is a critical issue in mobile radio applications both for the users and providers of such systems. Although the same may be said of all communications systems, mobile application have special requirements and vulnerabilities, and are therefore of special concern. Emerging wireless networks share many common characteristics with traditional wire-line networks such as public switch telephone/data networks, and hence many security issues with the wire-line networks also apply to the wireless environment. However the integration of security features into wireless communication must take into account restrictions that may apply to their use such as small packet size, low bandwidth, high transmission costs, limited processing and storage resources and real time constraints. In this paper security requirements in wireless communications along with security features in 2G and 3G systems are described.