Protecting Your Wireless Network

1. Protecting Your Wireless Network University of Tasmania School Of Computing 2007 Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

2. Lecturer (Launceston) • Dr. Daniel Rolf • School of Computing, Launceston • Phone: 6324 3450 • Email: Daniel.Rolf@utas.edu.au Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

3. Tonight • This is for • Home users • Those with limited or no technical expertise • Simple networks with no extra hardware • e.g. no RADIUS/VPN servers etc • Those who want some background and straightforward advice Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

4. Agenda • Background • Issues • Typical Configuration Options • What do they mean • What you should do Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

5. A Wireless Network What does the Access Point do? Internet Each Computer is uniquely identified by its own IP Address and MAC Address IP: Internet Protocol MAC: Medium Access Control Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

6. Wireless Range • If you measure the radio signal 1meter from the antenna as 100% then • At 10m you will measure 1% • At 100m you will measure 0.01% • At 1km you will measure 0.0001% • It never goes away! • just disappears into the background… Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

7. Somewhere… http://www.larsen-b.com/Article/212.html Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

8. Wireless Products and Users • A home user can not be expected to have any IT expertise • Installing wireless equipment is made as simple as possible • Advertising highlights the good points Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

9. A Popular Product • NETGEAR • 108Mbps Wireless Firewall Router • WGT624 v2 Telephone Socket Wireless Router Cable or DSL modem PC Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

10. The Installation Guide • How to connect the router • How to Log in to the router • http://192.168.0.1 • Run a setup wizard to connect to the Internet • Setup basic wireless connectivity • Default features • Network Name(SSID): NETGEAR • WEP Security: disabled Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

11. And now for the demo… Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

12. NETGEAR WGT624 Security • These are the advertised security features • Double Firewall • Network Address Translation (NAT) • Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) • Denial of Service (DoS) attack prevention • Intrusion Detection and Prevention • Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) 64 and 128 bit • Wi-Fi Protected Access (Pre Shared Key) • Wireless Access Control (SSID) • To identify authorized wireless network devices • Multiple VPN tunnels • Pass Through, 2 IPSec, and multiple L2TP and PPTP • Exposed Host (DMZ) • MAC address authentication Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

13. The Pass Phrase • 8-63 characters long lots of years years minutes Length in characters 20 30 10 Possible time to crack Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

14. Do’s • Change the default settings • use your own SSID • Makes your network less of an obvious attraction • change the administrator password on the AP • Enable and use the security features on the access point • make use of the firewall and filtering offered on the access point • if they are not there then look at getting specific products • Use good passwords/pass-phrases • for WPA • for any shared directories on your computer • Enable MAC filtering (for the technically minded) • allow only the computers you know/want on your network • this is a hurdle that can be bypassed (takes effort) Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

15. Do’s • Manage the access point over a wired network port • Look a the access point logs from time to time • see who’s there • Keep the operational range to a minimum • e.g. Lower the transmit power of the AP to minimise signal propagation if you have the option. • Switch the access point off if you are not using it for any length of time Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

16. Don’t • Use a default for anything without serious consideration • (and then still don’t) • Use WEP • Use a Pre Shared Key (PSK) based on a dictionary word Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

17. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • Authentication passwords (secret) • Generally shorter • Often written down and stored securely • Chosen and changed according to a method known only to the creator • Access Control passwords (shared) • Generally longer: pass phrase • Need different method to choose these Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

18. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • It is common to find people choosing authentication passwords based on their personal lives • Tiddles1 • Fido&Tiddles • MyFidoDog • Or personal names, car number plates, birth dates etc Introducing Fido and Tiddles Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

19. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • Tip #1 choose your WPA password using a very different method from the one you use to chose your authentication password • Your WPA password will be shared • You are not the only one controlling the sharing Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

20. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • Tip #2 find a method that will produce a 20 character password that you can • remember • tell someone else easily • Not &%^$3wd9!fhKK#?…. • Hints • Think of the term pass phrase rather than word Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

21. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • Hints • Use lines from poems and other texts • The boy stood on the burning deck • My teddy bear is rather fat • Use lines from tunes and songs • We’re all going on a summer holiday • By saying something stupid like I • Use funny phrases • Configuring this router is making me cross • I often cook burnt offerings Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

22. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • Hints • Add some capitals and replace o with 0 & I with 1 and use some SMS abbreviations • The b0y stood on Burn1ng deck • My teddy bear 1s Rather fat • We’re All go1ng on a summer hol1day • By saying Something Stupid like 1 • Configuring th1s ** router is making me X • Write this down and file in a secure place • With some physical access control Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

23. Choosing & Managing your Passwords • Finally • Remember your WPA password will be shared • It should give no clues as to how you construct your authentication passwords • You may trust your daughter but do you trust your daughter’s friend’s boy friend? • If in doubt change the pass phrase • Access to your network is the first step to access to your money! Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007

24. More Information • Securing your Wireless Network • http://www.practicallynetworked.com/support/wireless_secure.htm • Improving your default Netgear Security • http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101379.asp Protecting Your Wireless Network 2007