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Lock Up your Wireless LAN

Lock Up your Wireless LAN . By Aman Bhel. Internet Security Principles November 16, 2001. Agenda. Threats to your wireless LAN. Basic configuration of war driving. How to lock up your wireless LAN ?? Encryption Hazards. Why is there so much Wireless LAN hacking?? Conclusion.

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Lock Up your Wireless LAN

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  1. Lock Up your Wireless LAN By Aman Bhel Internet Security Principles November 16, 2001

  2. Agenda • Threats to your wireless LAN. • Basic configuration of war driving. • How to lock up your wireless LAN ?? • Encryption Hazards. • Why is there so much Wireless LAN hacking?? • Conclusion

  3. Threats to your wireless LAN • Someone could block the entire radio communication channel by transmitting junk on certain frequencies and anonymously stage a denial of service attack from your network. • Someone can plant viruses on your system. • Change Web pages. • The latest high-profile hacking method is called war driving, whereby hackers find unprotected WLANs by driving around with a laptop and 802.11 Ethernet card .

  4. Basic Configuration for War Driving

  5. How to Lock your WLAN ? • Find unsecured access points: AiroPeek from WildPackets, MobileManager from Wavelink are some of the products available to locate rogue access points and identify attacks. • Use personal firewall software : use personal firewall software on each laptop, such as Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall and Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm Pro . • Physically secure laptops : by unplugging the wireless Network Interface Card (NIC) and by covering the IrDA port with a piece of aluminum foil secured with duct tape.

  6. Encryption Hazards • Basically, the WEP standard is pretty lenient because dedicated hackers can compromise the network, most likely due to weak encryption and the reuse of encryption keys. • WEP uses the RC4 encryption algorithm, which uses the same key to scramble and descramble the packets. • If your key management system cycles through the same set of keys in a predictable manner, determined hackers can gather data from your LAN traffic and correlate it with the keys to help decipher the encryption.

  7. Why is there so much Wireless LAN hacking ? • Regardless of the technology, WLAN security will always be limited because users will sidestep security features . • Thus,it’s the weakest link in an IT infrastructure to steal corporate data. • As the number of WLAN cards grows, so will the opportunities for hackers to break into wireless networks .

  8. Conclusion • Wireless LANs are very useful and convenient, but current security state not ideal for sensitive environments. • Cahners In-Stat group has projected that the number of wireless LAN cards will grow up from 2.6 million in 2000 to 11.8 million in 2003 . • Growing use and popularity require increased focus on security.

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