Wireless LAN?

**King of CaveMen** · February 28th, 2003, 03:37 PM

One question would this implicate security a little abit? I may be going to extremes here was just wondering though.

Is there any other disadvantages to having a wireless lan at the house to share an internet connection other than the price?

***MrLinus*** · February 28th, 2003, 03:45 PM

Yes. If you don't configure it right anyone can use your wireless to surf the web or surf your LAN. Wireless still has a fair amount of insecurities. Based on a 2600 published a couple of issues ago, there are TONNES of wireless LANs available for anyone within range to use.

A student of mine has one setup (I don't use one... yet) and he solved some of his security issues by putting in static MAC address assignments. Only the MACs assigned could use the wireless LAN.

Not perfect but certainly makes it harder.

***Tiger Shark*** · February 28th, 2003, 03:48 PM

It's wide open to being hijacked and if someone does hijack it then whatever is done appears to be being done by you..... Thus, they hack away at www.whitehouse.gov and threaten the President's life, those nice men with shoulder holsters and badges come and pay you a little visit...... You have to convince them that you had nothing to do with it...... Not fun....

[Edit]

MsMittens: Do you know what WAP device he's using? I looked around for a while and all the cost effective, (read cheap), WAP's such as the Linksys do not appear to have the ability to MAC filter.... which is why I gave up on the idea for home and a satellite office.....

[/Edit]

**King of CaveMen** · February 28th, 2003, 03:50 PM

MsMittens thanks? I take it your a computer teacher?

That does sound like a secure method of it.

Can you email me the issue of the 2600 issue on that please? Thanks.

***MrLinus*** · February 28th, 2003, 03:54 PM

Email?? Check their website. Or you'll have to search around for it. The article in question was about 10 pages long of itty bitty print. (BTW, I'm one of those weirdos who believes that hackers are the ones with curiosity and want to explore, not have everything given to them).

And ya. I'm a professor. I teach Intro and Advanced Network Security. I don't know everything but I know some.

As I point out to my students, security is a giant iceburg and what I teach is a couple of snowflakes on the tip. There is so much out there, it's hard to know where to start.

***t2k2*** · February 28th, 2003, 07:34 PM

Ok, here we go good people. I have been playing with the wireless thing for a little while now.

Tiger Shark: Yes, the Linksys Wireless AP/router does do MAC filtering. I have one myself.

King of Cavemen: First, finding an AP is pretty easy with something like Netstumbler or prismsniff. Like Ms Mittens said, there are many insecurities currently associated with Wireless networking. The MAC filtering does help, but if an attacker really wants to get into your network, and all you have as a method of security is MAC filtering, you are toast. Why do I say this? The MAC address of one of your wireless clients can easily be sniffed, and then, the attacker can use something like SMAC (think that's the name) to change their MAC to the allowed one. Then, all they have to do is DOS the legitimate client somehow. Then he/she would be able to get on with the spoofed address.

Then, there is the lovely 64 or 128 bit WEP - which is very weak. This is not really because of the algorithm used - RC4 - but because of the fact that WEP uses a static key. With this in mind, all the attacker needs to do is sniff enough traffic for a tool like WepCrack or AirSnort to analyze and extract this key. I have heard that it can take anywhere from 1-3 hours. The downside for the attacker is having to sit somewhere for that long, during which time they could possibly be noticed. On the other hand, they could probably get great reception from a distance using one of those "cantennas" I have heard so much about. From what I understand, some use pringles cans to amplify the signal from a distance. Wild, isn't it?

I highly recommend checking out my post here . This will give you some insight also.

In addition, you can find some of the tools I mentioned at the links below:

AirSnort
Netstumbler
Wepcrack

Prismsniff and other great tools...

If you work in security, many of these are great tools to help protect your network in a way. I use a few of them to do "WiFi walking" around the work site. I am mainly looking for rogue APs on my network. You never know what you'll find out there. It's kind of fun now that I think about it.

Oh, you might be wondering if there is a safer solution??? I've read a little about wireless solutions using LEAP, PEAP, and some other initials that I cannot remember. It's worth the time to look into, however. The information I have given you should definitely get you started if you want to research it.

Take care,

t2k2

***Tiger Shark*** · February 28th, 2003, 07:44 PM

Thanks t2k2..... I looked through their online manual and couldn't find reference to it. I either missed it or it isn't documented there.....

Which model are you using?

**thread_killer** · February 28th, 2003, 07:50 PM

Like all things security, you best mitigate risk by employing a defense in depth.

Static MAC's are good, but a MAC can be spoofed.
Make sure you change the SSID away from the default.
If you are spending the money anyway, consider using a proprietary framing method other than 802.11x. Proxim for example, uses a unique method of using 802.3 frames over RF. This means not just any jack-ass with an 802.11 compliant card in there laptop can war-drive your house; they have to have a proxim card.

A good white paper for wireless security here that is specific to Cisco products. Another one here: http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Sorry about the long link, something in it screws up the mark up tags.

**Xylinx** · February 28th, 2003, 08:22 PM

w00 w00 Wi-Fi....

Wireless is a pain in the buttskii (Polish term)

As always, the above replies are excellent knowledge...But also, if you have to / want to use wireless disable DHCP and use a non-standard IP quartet (5.34.76.*, 111.212.121.*) and file security. But do remember that this will only slow the determine but might avoid the drive-by hijackers / war-drive. Cisco seems to be the most secure (opinion) but its expensive. KA-CHING!

Also Prism can be sniffed and spoofed...

BTW Tsunami products for Proxim Rocks!

***t2k2*** · February 28th, 2003, 08:25 PM

Oh, and that reminds me. Make sure you choose not to beacon/broadcast your SSID. If you do broadcast it, then that's half the battle already given to the attacker. From what I understand, Cisco's proprietary protocol for wifi is pretty good - LEAP - since it uses dynamic keys.

Cheers

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