AIS300 - Scheme of Work - Scholarly Commons Home

4.2.5.2 Encryption
WLAN in Auckland CBD Detected %
WLAN appears in both scans 225 44
WLAN appears in day scan only 203 40
WLAN appears in night scan only 78 15
Total of actual WLAN detected 506
Table 4.10 Actual MAC addresses detected in Auckland CBD
It was identified that 74% of all WLAN detected on 26 June 2007 had some kind of
encryption on while only 26% are without encryption. Table 4.11 provides a summary
of this information. This data confirmed the speculated increment of encryption on the
WLANs in Auckland CBD when compared with the data presented in 2004 by Lin,
Sathu and Joyce. In 2004, Lin, Sathu, and Joyce (2004) discovered that only 40% of
WLAN detected in 2004 applied some kind of encryption while 60% of all WLAN
observed during their field trial in Auckland CBD were not encrypted. Comparing the
result from 2004 with the current observation of WLAN encryption status in Auckland
CBD, it can be concluded that the encryption enablement have increased by almost 85%
from 2004 to 2007. This encouraging phenomenon could be due to an increase
awareness of wireless security requirements among current wireless users.
4.2.5.3 Operation Mode
Status Total %
Encryption On 376 74
Encryption Off 130 26
Table 4.11 Actual Auckland CBD encryption status
The analysis on the merged data identified 95% of all the WLANs detected were ESS
while less than 5% were IBSS. This data is summarized in Table 4.12. Comparing this
data with the one from 2004, it is observed that there is a slight increase on the ESS
detected. Based on this result, it can be assumed that the majority of WLAN
implementers in Auckland CBD preferred the infrastructure mode.
Operation Mode Total %
IBSS (Ad hoc) 23 5
ESS (AP) 483 95
Table 4.12 Actual operation mode detected in Auckland CBD
33