By altering the Multiple Access Control (MAC) protocol, one of the series of protocols that govern how bandwidth is distributed between multiple users of the same wi-fi access point by randomly assigning each hotspot user a rate for data transfer, it is possible to siphon off most or all of the bandwidth. . . .
By altering the Multiple Access Control (MAC) protocol, one of the series of protocols that govern how bandwidth is distributed between multiple users of the same wi-fi access point by randomly assigning each hotspot user a rate for data transfer, it is possible to siphon off most or all of the bandwidth. That is what inspired Imad Aad and his colleagues, of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) - the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland - to devise a counter-measure.

Within a third of a second, Aad told a conference this week, wi-fi operators using a tool called DOMINO could detect if someone is doing this by monitoring the rate of data flow in the MAC layer. The tool can be set to raise an alarm when one user is receiving data at an abnormally high speed compared to other users.

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