Wireless Security

WIRELESS SECURITY
This chapter is about different kind of Best Practices that should be followed when using Wireless
LAN.
WHAT IS WIRELESS LAN?

The Wireless LAN or WLAN is becoming a popular way to connect devices such as computers these days.
In offices and homes, WLAN has become an alternative way of communication compared to wired LAN.
The convenience to connect different devices is both cost effective and easily maintainable.
The Wikipedia says: “Wireless LANs have become popular in the home due to ease of installation, and
the increasing to offer wireless access to their customers; often for free.”
Wireless router network diagram.
MAJOR ISSUES WITH WLAN

Having said that, WLAN are also as prone to various attacks as their counterpart wired LNAs are. Actually
WLANs are easier to hack as compared to wired LANs, if not properly configured, due to its easy
accessibility around the installation. No need to be in contact of physical wires to hack can be done from
anywhere. Its convenience can turn into serious risk to the organization if not configured properly.
Major attacks include such as, Sniffing, Key cracking, DoS (Denial of Service), Deauthentication attacks,
War driving etc. This chapter is not focused on attacks, we shall mainly concentrate on best practices-
how to install and use WLAN securely which can thwart a number of above mentioned attacks.
Secure WLAN
Wireless Security mainly depends on these 3 factors:
 How much is your wireless network secured in terms of encryption being used.
 Monitoring for suspicious and unusual activities.
 User awareness and education.
These are the combination of various approaches ranging from corporate to home networks. These are
also for users how to remain safe while surfing.
Wi-Fi at home
Using a Wi-Fi at home is not a luxury anymore it has become a necessity. However, when the question
of security comes into the scene, the first thought that would arise in my mind is how you can protect
something which you cannot see, neither can you feel it? Protecting a home wireless network is
altogether a different side of the coin as compared to wired networks.
There is no silver bullet that will protect your wireless network infrastructure. These are, however, some
countermeasures listed below that should be used in conjunction with each other to secure your
wireless network to the highest level:
Use Firewall: All the wireless routers come with built-in firewalls. Enable them with all the security
features. You should block any anonymous ping requests and place restrictions on website browsing, if
required. Define additional security policies and apply them.
Attacks mitigated: Fingerprinting, System compromise
Don’t use public Wi-Fi spots to surf sensitive websites: Free and open wireless networks available on
airports, cafes, railway stations are not very secure by nature. They do 120 not use any encryption to
secure the channel between your laptop to the router. So any information which is not by default going
on HTTPS from your laptop/smart phone is susceptible to sniffing and even more your session could be
hijacked because the unencrypted channel may leak the active session ID used by your website.
Attacks mitigated: Sniffing, Session Hijacking
Turn off your router when not in use: Last but not least, a little obvious, but it will save your network
from all the attacks for that time period.
Wi-Fi in a Corporate/Enterprise Network Due to the nature of activity and criticality of

information, it is very important that Corporate / Enterprise networks have a higher degree
of security.
The following are good to have:
 Filtering of clients based on unique identifier like MAC Address

 Limiting the radius of Wi-Fi network by reducing the power output of the AP
 Periodically changing the keys & passwords
 Use of VPN while accessing corporate information from Public Wi-Fi network
 Client side utilities like DecaffeinatID can help in detecting changes in ARP table and serve as
common man’s IDS to protect against attacks like ‘hole196’ and DoS.
Implementation of Wireless IDS. Wireless IDS is a new concept. The key features of Wireless IDS are:
1. Prevention against Rogue AP’s
2. Detection & prevention against DoS attacks
3. Assistance in locating the approximate physical location of the attacker
4. Assistance in enforcing the Organization’s Information Security policy on wireless networks
5. Detection of use of scanning tools like Kismet & Net Stumbler

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WIRELESS SECURITY

WHAT IS WIRELESS LAN?

Wireless router network diagram.

MAJOR ISSUES WITH WLAN

Wi-Fi in a Corporate/Enterprise Network Due to the nature of activity and criticality of

The following are good to have:

 Filtering of clients based on unique identifier like MAC Address

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