Securing Mobile Devices and Technology

Kutub Thakur, Al-Sakib Khan Pathan

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000487275
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Informatique
• Subtopic: Programmation d'appareils mobiles

This book describes the detailed concepts of mobile security. The first two chapters provide a deeper perspective on communication networks, while the rest of the book focuses on different aspects of mobile security, wireless networks, and cellular networks. This book also explores issues of mobiles, IoT (Internet of Things) devices for shopping and password management, and threats related to these devices. A few chapters are fully dedicated to the cellular technology wireless network. The management of password for the mobile with the modern technologies that helps on how to create and manage passwords more effectively is also described in full detail. This book also covers aspects of wireless networks and their security mechanisms. The details of the routers and the most commonly used Wi-Fi routers are provided with some step-by-step procedures to configure and secure them more efficiently. This book will offer great benefits to the students of graduate and undergraduate classes, researchers, and also practitioners.

1

The Evolution of Data Communication Networks

DOI: 10.1201/9781003230106-1

1.1 EMERGENCE OF DATA COMMUNICATION NETWORK

The art of communication started with the advent of living things on the earth. With the emergence of human beings, the evolution of organized form of communication started taking shape. Gesture communication and voice-based communication were the preliminary forms of communication that the humans started with.¹

The history of communication dates back to about 500,000 BCE, according to the best scientific estimation of human beings as of today.² The first time use of the symbol in our human communication is also traced back to about 30,000 BC. The preliminary forms of symbols, which were used in the earlier forms of communication, included cave paintings, pictograms, and other forms of symbols. Later on, the communication evolved to ideograms in which the pictorial symbols were used for the communication between people located at remote places. Gadget for the generation of codes for telegram messages is shown in Figure 1.1. The form of writing communication started a new era of modern communication. Numerous alphabets emerged from ancient civilizations like Indus Civilization, Nile River civilization, Jiahu civilization, Roman civilization, and many others.

FIGURE 1.1 Telegraph Code Machine.

Source: Courtesy Pixabay

The emergence of telecommunication began with the use of different kinds of signals in the earlier ages like smoke and drums. The semaphore communication, which is visual communication through tall towers and posts, emerged as a major mode of remote communication through visual signals in Europe. The emergence of Semaphore communication dates back to the 1790s. The first electrical cell was invented by Volta in 1800, which led to the discovery of electricity and electric signal-based communication later in 1830.³

Numerous other forms of communication were also in use during those days, which included pigeon posts, optics, beacons, and other similar kinds of systems. The telegraph communication was successfully launched in 1816, which was based on static electricity. It was developed by Francis Ronalds.

The telephone-based voice communication started taking shape from 1870, which was a multisignal type of telegraph. The modern voice communication started commercially with the establishment of telephone network between New Haven, Connecticut in the United States and London, England in the United Kingdom during 1878 and 1879.

The modern data communication based on the semiconductor devices started from 1950s when the first semiconductor-based devices were invented. These devices started a new revolution in the field of telecommunication, which has overtaken almost all types of scientific evolutions and revolutions.

The communication networks based on computers started to transfer data across the networks in a systematic way afterward.

1.1.1 WHAT IS DATA COMMUNICATION NETWORK?

Data communication is the latest form of communication in which the digital data is transmitted and received by the other networks or network nodes. The network nodes can be any digital machines, devices, or gadgets that are capable of receiving, sending, or both sending and receiving the data transmitted through the digital network. Figure 1.2 shows an old data network.

FIGURE 1.2 Old Data Network.

Source: Courtesy Public Domain Vectors

Data communication network consists of computers, terminals, mobiles, routers, switches, transmission links, and other components used in the formation of a communication network. The modern data networks consist of numerous endpoints that have data receiving or transmitting or both receiving and transmitting capabilities. The examples of such endpoint nodes include all data communication-enabled devices, gadgets, and home and office appliances like printers, security locks, faxes, air conditioners, heaters, microwave ovens, fridges, and thousands of other similar kinds of items as shown in Figure 1.3.

FIGURE 1.3 Modern Network.

1.1.2 EARLY COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

The preliminary footprints of modern era data communication networks can be traced from the first half of the nineteenth century. The invention of Morse code marks the start of the modern data communication networks. The first launch of Morse code-based telegraphy in 1837 in London started a new era of data communication. In this service of communication, electrical signals were used to transmit the code.

Later on, Wheatstone and Cooke created a character printable telegraphy in 1837, which was used to send messages in the written form from one point to the other, connected through a wire.⁴ More modifications and improvements were carried out in the subsequent years in telegraphy, and more letters and characters were included in the coding system.

The invention of transistor at Bell Labs in 1947 marked a new revolution in the data communication technology. The data communication satellites were launched in the early years of second half of the twentieth century. These satellites paved the way for the facsimile data communication networks. The modulation, demodulation of the data started its journey.

The vector image of modem (modulator–demodulator) is shown in Figure 1.4. This modem technology is still in use for data transmission in some parts of the world for the communication of slow rate data transfers. The fax machines were introduced to transmit data from one point to another point in 1962.⁵

FIGURE 1.4 Modem Device.

Source: Courtesy Public Domain Vectors

A few years after the arrival of modem technology, the Internet Protocol, commonly referred to as “IP” was introduced in 1969. This marked another revolution in data communication network. The packet switching was taking shape significantly through the ARPANET project. The ARPANET project was started by the US department of defense. ARPANET basically stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. This project was initiated in 1960 for the advanced research in the data communication networking field.⁶ The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) was introduced in 1970 by Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf. These two protocols, TCP and IP, paved the way for the modern data communication network of the networks known as the Internet. The primary computer networks were very simple data networks working in a server–client-based environment as shown in Figure 1.5.

FIGURE 1.5 Basic Server–Client Network.

Source: Courtesy Pixabay

The ARPANET officially adopted the TCP/IP data communication protocol stack in 1983. This marked the beginning of the data communication between the nodes and networks, which resulted in the modern Internet. Within a very short span of time, after the introduction of IP protocol, numerous other data communication solutions emerged in the marketplace. Those data communication networks included the Frame Relay, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). This is very important to note that all these technologies discussed in this paragraph are wide area network (WAN) technologies. These technologies were developed to use the traditional networks of telephone lines, coaxial cables, and fiber optic media. Frame Relay and ATM are technologies that work below OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) layer 3 (Network Layer), while the ISDN uses the call set protocols at OSI layer 3 and uses other different protocols for transferring data and voice over the traditional telephone lines.

The introduction of World Wide Web commonly referred to as WWW by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 made it possible for accessing the content through hyperlinks through the network of the network or the Internet. The introduction of web brows-ers revolutionized the accessing of any kind of content through hyperlinks easily. The new era of website development started because it became so easy to access various types of contents located on the computer networks connected together through the Internet. The world of digital content started expanding significantly all around the world. Within a few years after the introduction of WWW concept, the web technology covered the modern medium of information as conceptually depicted in Figure 1.6.

FIGURE 1.6 World Wide Web.

Source: Courtesy Pixabay

Once the Internet was made available for the...