Australia's Information Security and Cyber-Warfare

Somewhere in Australia stands a building with a group of federal government information security experts peering at flat screens and being fed reports from various sources. Watching for the next big thing to hit the Australian digital shores - from other governments, criminals, terrorists or crackers.

The Australian Department of Defence also thinks about this topic often. Pondering how other governments or terrorist groups might attack or harm Australia's military IT infrastructure and other related assets.

This has become a worrying reality for other countries and our own, as we have seen recently with the Chinese Google hacking issues, and Australian members of parliament having their websites hacked or defaced.

Can we ever can be safe from cyber attacks or similar quasi military actions?

The answer is yes and no at the same time. Just think about where we are today. Australia is already in a constant state of cyber war - with other governments, military organisations, corporations, individuals and criminals using the Internet constantly searching for information and knowledge they can use against our interests. Both in Australia and elsewhere, it's an intelligence orgy out there! Fraud, espionage and information collecting are important parts of these cyber-actions.

The real potential of our cyber warfare organisations is not being utilised. There is a focus on protecting the military and government sectors, but we need to be proactive and ready to employ everything from EMP devices, secret back-doors in manufactured hardware, and unmanned drones with electronic jamming/eavesdropping equipment.

In summary, we are fighting and surviving a cyberwar, while at the same time it is hard to estimate the potential damage if the cyberwar was to escalate. This is why the answer to the question of Australia's cyberwar preparedness seems to be "yes and no".

Australia needs to increase its cyberwar preparedness, even if Australia seems to be coping with the problem at the moment. Any new technologies and cyberwar developments can rapidly change the IT security landscape here. This would leave Australia vulnerable very quickly, and without time for our cyber security teams to react in an effective manner.

We are living in strange and uncertain times.

WiMAX 5.8Ghz vs Wi-Fi 5.8Ghz in Backhaul and Access Technologies

In today's wireless market, there are numerous  5.8Ghz Wi-Fi based products. Now wireless equipment vendors are releasing 5.8Ghz versions of their WiMAX products. It's tempting for small/medium ISP, businesses and governments to look at the new product offerings, but is it worth the switch to WiMAX from widely used Wi-Fi based products?

What is Wi-Fi and WiMax?

When comparing technologies for deployment applications, defining exactly what we are looking at is a good place to start.

Wi-Fi Definition:
Wi-Fi (pronounced /ˈwaɪfaɪ/) is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance used with certified products that belong to a class of wireless local area network (WLAN) devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Because of the close relationship with its underlying standard, the term Wi-Fi is often used as a synonym for IEEE 802.11 technology, including the 802.11a/802.11b/802.11g standards.

WiMAX Definition:
WiMAX, means Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.

It is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile Internet access.

The technology provides up to 10 Mbps broadband speed without the need for cables.

It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access). The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard.

WiMAX and Wi-Fii standards

Standard	Family	Use	Radio/RF	Down Link	Uplink
Wi-Fi	802.11a/b/g (11n)	Fixed Internet/Fixed Data services	OFDM/MIMO TDD	288.9 Can support 600Mbps @ 40MHz channels
WiMAX	802.16d 802.16e  (802.16m developmental)	Fixed/Mobile Internet/Data services	OFDMA MIMO-SOFDMA TDD and FDD	144	35

As we can see from the standards information, there are distinct differences in both the WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies and their possible applications.

Can 5.8GHz WiMAX can compete with 5.8GHz Wi-Fi for a Point to Point application?

For point to point applications, 5.8 Wi-Fi works fairly well and is widely used in Australia.

The main advantage in the WiMAX standard for PTP networks is FDD (full duplex communications) and QoS features. But, in many instances, it is difficult for point to point WiMAX to compete with 802.11 Wi-Fi in point to point systems. Wi-Fi has a better overall data-rate then WiMAX.

In the future, the 802.16m stardard for WiMAX will give point to point systems a better advantage over Wi-Fi point to point systems, offering rates at least 4x the current 802.16e rates.

5.8GHz Point to Multi-Point - WiMAX or Wi-Fi?

The WiMAX standard has many advantages over 802.11 Wi-Fi products in point to multipoint applications.

The hidden node effect is the biggest problem for Wi-Fi networks.

Hidden nodes in a wireless network refer to nodes that are out of range of other nodes or a collection of nodes.

Take a physical star topology with an access point and many nodes surrounding it in a circular fashion. Each node is within communication range of the AP, but some nodes may not be able to communicate with each other, as they do not have a physical connection to each other, thus producing a situation where nodes can not sense the carrier on the network.

Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) does not work and collisions occur, scrambling data.

The Wi-Fi RF timing is less robust for long range transmissions and systems that have fixed the Wi-Fi timing problems risk incompatibility problems with the 802.11 standards. There are different versions of 802.11 from vendors including Alverion, Airaya and Skypilot. These companies use products with modified 802.11, but they only work with their own client subscriber units.

WiMAX wins hands down, and was designed to fix shortfalls in the Wi-Fi standard.

I have tried deploying larger Wi-Fi last mile access networks in the past and experienced a lot of problems.

I have never had a problem with WiMAX network deployments and reliability in access networks.

Redundant 48 Volt Power Supply - Part 2 - Wiring up the Rack and PSU

Now comes the all important job of wiring up the rack mounted power supply units.

This part of the project requires heaps of wire, a soldering iron, connectors and a steady hand.

Important WARNING - The next part is for informational and academic use only. This system uses dangerous and lethal voltages. Only qualified and experienced technicians should work on high voltage power supply systems.

Wire up all the internals with the appropriate cable types and colour coding. It is important to use the correct wire types and colours for the 240AVC and 48VDC circuits. All the wire ends were soldered onto connectors or terminals and all exposed connections covered in heat shrink tubing. Also, the yellow grounding cable to the rack casing was securely attached to the earthing connector on the case.

The PSU & rack all wired up

Below is a diagram showing the PSU wiring in the 2ru rack case. With 240VAC mains power coming into the PSU unit and the clean 48VDC power being delivered out of the unit. 

Parts list per PSU circuit:

1x 3700K Resistor 1x LED with mount 1x 240VAC fuse holder 1x IEC socket with mount

1x DC power socket with mount 1x Ceramic fast blow fuse 1x Switch (Suitable for 240VAC) Loads of wire for 240 volt and 48 volt Applications

Below are images of the front and back panels. On the front panel is mounted the power switch, red LED and DC power connector socket. On the back is the IEC power socket for the 240 volts AC cord connection and the fuse holder with a quick blow ceramic fuse.

Close-up of the front of the rack

Close-up of the back of the rack

Now the task remaining was to make up the DC power cables and test the PSU units before turning them on (I used my multimeter all the way though the building process, which is good practice).

Everything looked good and I was ready to test with mains power and a heavy load on the DC outputs.

DC Power Cables

Testing the PSU racks

Put the tops back on and plug them in.

Test the DC voltage and ensure everything is fine at 48.2 VDC. No leaks or other obvious problems.

All done, with two redundant 48 VDC power supplies ready to be shipped out. (I also had another technician check it over).

PSU all finished front view

PSU rack all finished back view

Stay tuned to Burning the Midnight for the next and final part of this project.

I will be mounting the rack unit and connecting up the redundant power supply to a Longreach X-Band wireless backhaul.

More fun and excitement.

IT Technology Reviews Online

Technology reviews have been added to the Burning the Midnight site at http://sites.google.com/site/burningthemidnightproject, under the Online Library section of the site.

The topics include various IT equipment and software reviews for major brands.

Alvarion Breeze Access Ezy Airaya Wireless AI-108 Aximotek NA-806D Barracuda Networks Security Appliance Longreach Wireless IR+ ProofPoint Security Appliance Motorola Canopy Wireless Redline Communications AN-100, AN-80 and AN-50 SkyPilot Networks Trango Broadband Wireless Link-10

These are reviews and guides to setting up the systems.

Had a lot of fun with these products and still work with some of them.

Enjoy!

Latest Projects and Upcoming Articles

Here's some of the new projects that I have been working on. A bit of a mixed bag at the moment, from PSUs and robotics to VMware.

The projects include: VMWare Infrastructure review and tricks. Redundant 48 volts power supply for telecoms equipment. Solar system reporting to computer intergration software. A tracked robot running on Linux and wireless networking.

Stay turned for these informative and useful project updates.

Further project information will be added to the new Burning the Midnight website.

Check it out at http://sites.google.com/site/burningthemidnightproject/