Wireless Security....

Hi,

I have always heared and read that wireless have a long way to go before they stabilize atleast on the security front.....

But the article which I read recently was eyeopening....

It shows how simple it is to break into any wireless network using a simple empty pringle can....

Article Courtesy BBC NEWS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1860241.stm

I would like to know how we can secure our wireless networks and current limitations with wireless networks...

Regards

Kalp

Found this one more article which actually demonstrates on how to make such cheap antennas

Link - o'reily networks

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

In such cases .. how do we ensure the our wireless segment is secured.....

We are using RF for connecting some of our lactions.. and pursuing to implement on many other locations but after reading this.. I feel have we done a right thing by going for RF at first place.....

Regards

Kalp

I have some experience in wireless routing and I know it is hard to make the decision on whether you should use the 'insecure' wireless networs or go for the CAT5 Cabling.

Despite what many people say a wireless network can be extremely secure when the right precautions.

I myself have recently been testing the security of wireless networks in the local area and most have been secure.

I have included some tips below to help you when buying and setting up your network:

1. Buy quality brand name gear, it may be a little more expensive but beleive me it is well worth it.

2. Purchase a wireless encryption program and/or enable the encryption that came with the wireless router itself.

3. if you are really serious hire somebody to come and physically attempt to break into to your system to find the vulnerabilities. (It is a good idea to get them to fix the problems they find)

4. Forget about wireless if you are so paranoid and get CAT5 cabling put through your home/workplace, and go to the trouble of plugging your notebook into your network every time you wish to use it.

Thats my two cents worth so...

Cheerio.

Wireless is by definition a security pb: Waves are flooding the area in every direction.
Therefore u can't garanty that someone is sniffing u.

Military use some TranSec techno to secure the physical layer. An example is frequency hopping. But most TranSec are consumming too much space in the spectrum and rates r very low (far less than 10Mb).

The only way to garanty at 99% confidentiality and integrity of wireless access is to use IPSec over it. (IPSec encryption may be cracked one day but I never heard about it...)

802.1x (IEEE) is a good authentication WI-FI protocol it's not very mature but you'll get rid of script kiddies trying to get free internet access.

I have found that Ciscos' LEAP encryption when set up properly can provide an additional amount of security that WEP is unable to provide. Using LEAP and session based keys can greatly increase the overall level of security but proper configuration and good auditing is a must. Also make sure your wireless network is properly segmented from your wired network and treat all wireless traffic as untrusted(unless you're VERY sure of yourself)also there are many RADIUS servers which allow 802.1x authentication such as Radiator http://www.open.com.au/radiator/technical.html#wireless

-Maestr0

I agree with Network. For our organizations wireless traffic we run it inside of a VPN. That will take care of all security issues regarding sniffing. This is cost justifiable in a bussiness setting but is a little much home use. I feel that 128 bit WEP for home is probably sufficient.

Another alternative that is becoming avaiable with 802.11a is frequency hopping. The advantage is it is VERY hard to sniff. The downside is it requires equipment from the same vendor as the technology is propiatary to the vendor.

Other things you can do that don't cost anything...

Configure your AP to not broad cast your SSID

Some AP's allow you to configure specific MAC addresses for access

CHANGE THE DEFAULT PASSWORDS !!!


Good Luck :)

Quote:

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Wireless is by definition a security pb: Waves are flooding the area in every direction.
Therefore u can't garanty that someone is sniffing u.

---

I couldn't agree more. The newest version of Maximum Security has an entire chapter that explained how wireless networking has set network security back twenty years. You can make a wireless network more secure but it will never be "secure" from those who know what they're doing. Take a look at an app called WEPCRACK. It can break a 128-bit Wep key with enough time.
-NeuTron

Yeap the wep encription is quite shity. I haven't looked at the 128-bit one yet but the previous one could be crakced in less then 20mins.

Raduis, rotation keys, no broadcasting of ssid... all of these are basics that have to be enabled. a combination of at least two will divert any script kiddy.

Yet something more simple to do is to pay extra attention to the loaction of the AP. if you have a wifi net in a 3 story building don't put it on the firts floor. Rather think in 3 dimensions so that the coverage is non existant on the outside.

my 2 cents

I would never use a wireless network. I've tesed exploiting an 802.11b network with only a Linux laptop and a GPS. And it's a discrase to the world of security, it wasn't long untill I had the password for the network and was able to hijack it.

I've got it all.

With a ROUGE AccessPoint (secretly insert between the roaming area of the public wireless Network ( between other legal AP). I''ve managed to captured all SSID, WAP information. So, it's useless with some Hacker with an AP :))

Thanks all.....

Yeah I was thinking of encrypting the channel with the inbuilt wep option... But I shall need to try and see how we can have ipsec security.....

Regards

Kalp

here is a good link to what you can do with wlan:

http://www.happyhacker.org/gtmhh/lanjacking.shtml

If you want slow, unsecure transmissions, go wirewless.
If you want fast, secure transmissions, go wired.

Although it might seem like a good idea to not have wires, you still plug in your laptopto charge it up, and unless you have a centrino chip, you will get less than an hour of online time without being connected to a power outlet anyway. It's easier to just buy an extra piece of cat-5 and string it out onto an outside deck, or the bathroom, or where ever else you want to have it, than to go wireless.

Although wireless is still not the most secure carier around, there are severall things you can do to increase security.

- Don't send SSID

- If you can't use LEAP for auth and encryption, go for TKIP. TKIP will replace the WEP security technology in 802.11i, and in the future I think TKIP will be replaced by AES encryption on the hardware level.

- Lower the footprint, this will weaken the signal outside the building

---------=========-----------

Besides all of this, wireless is a danger to any network (wired and wireless), any attack on a network can be done by placing a wireless device on that network. Also employees that want to make their life easy can buy such a device for a few bugs and put it on the desk.

Smaller companies (with a few offices worldwide) can wardrive around and in the office to make sure no rogue wireless devices are active. Large companies with offices around the world can scan the (wired) network to see if such devices are connected, but it is difficult to get 100% proof. Tools like nmap, netcat, hping can help out here.

Geppy :)

Interesting article. I think that people with wireless nets at a business is dangerous.The open radio waves; all the hings you can do to bandwith and systems. These are inevitably open to nefarious people, ie the article. This is an interesting subject to explore.

one of the biggest problems that you have in a wired net work that wont (or cant ) offer there users wireless is that users have wireless in ther homes so they think that they know how to use it( one to run 'billy's' computer in his room , one box in the kittchen for mom, and one in dads office, opening the walls to put in cat5 is going to cost how much?!!!)

so users that now want wireless in the work place will go to one of those big elect. stores and pick up an ap and plug it in to there imo, boom instant wireless in the office and instant security breach. what if i was a bad guy and sat in your parking lot with a laptop running some server software and an ap pluged in and got your card to associate to my ap, bang i got you login, your whole company is owned.

wep?!wep?! hello 1-2 million pkts and use wep crack your owned, bang wep is flawed, big time. most people that have these $100 ap's dont turn it on anyway, all of the clients that we service that have had wireless only 2 (out of 30-40) have had any encryption at all.

first if you carry sensitive data dont use one of the ap's that cost $100 from a superstore spend the $ and get one that will run more secure incriptions like LEAP, PEAP, IPSec and others that are comming out with 802.11i (?)( I thiks its i) cisco offers these starting about $500 per ap for the new 1100 also they are now offering an upgrade for the old aironet ios to cisco ios that can do some coller things and is more user friendly i recommend these.

I haven't been to the Happy Hacker site in a while because for the longest time, there wasn't anything new. LOoks like I should start heading back there again...