DSPM: Dynamic security policy management for optimizing performance in wireless networks

Military wireless networks suffer from privacy and performance concerns due to their shared radio medium and off-the-shelf products. Therefore, robust and efficient security management is essential in these networks, especially for the transmission of sensitive data. However, security solutions based on static-configuration paradigm do not adapt to changing network conditions, such as variations in wireless link characteristics, leading to degradation in system performance. The rationale for advocating dynamic security paradigm is to achieve optimized network performance and security based on network conditions. Therefore, we propose a dynamic security policy management (DSPM) in which security policies can be changed on the fly based on the network feedback about wireless link conditions. DSPM is analyzed by using semi-Markov decision process to determine the optimal instances for switching security policies. The results show that DSPM provides enhanced security and improved performance than static security.