WLAN Security : IEEE 802.11b or Bluetooth - which standard provides best security methods for companies?

Abstract: Which security holes and security methods do IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth offer? Which standard provides best security methods for companies? These are two interesting questions that this thesis will be about. The purpose is to give companies more information of the security aspects that come with using WLANs. An introduction to the subject of WLAN is presented in order to give an overview before the description of the two WLAN standards; IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth. The thesis will give an overview of how IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth works, a in depth description about the security issues of the two standards will be presented, security methods available for companies, the security flaws and what can be done in order to create a secure WLAN are all important aspects to this thesis. In order to give a guidance of which WLAN standard to choose, a comparison of the two standards with the security issues in mind, from a company's point of view is described. We will present our conclusion which entails a recommendation to companies to use Bluetooth over IEEE 802.11b, since it offers better security methods.