Wireless Security Threats and Solutions

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Wireless SecurityThreats and Solutions

• By Shirene Turpin Rob Waight

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• Virii are wondrous creations written for the
  sole purpose of spreading and destroying the
  systems of unsuspecting fools. This eliminates
  the systems of simpletons who cant tell that
  there is a problem when a 100-byte file suddenly
  blossoms into a 1,000-byte file. Duh. These
  low-lives do not deserve to exist, so it is our
  sacred duty to wipe their hard drives off the
  face of the earth. It is a simple matter of
  speeding along survival of the fittest.
• -Anonymous Virus Creator

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Wireless Security Threats

• Denial of Service Attacks
• Theft of Service
• Industrial and Foreign Espionage
• Rouge Access Points
• Malicious Code/Viruses

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Wireless Security ThreatsDenial of Service
Attacks

• The purpose is to deny the victims access to a
  particular resource, which usually means cutting
  off access to the service or network as a whole.
• The network is flooded with information, through
  flooding the 2.4GHz frequency or packet flooding.

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Wireless Security Threats Theft of Service

• Hacker gains access to the internet or anything
  else by using someone elses resources.
• Leads to a much more serious type of threat that
  can cost companies and individuals a lot of
  problems and money.

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Wireless Security Threats Industrial and Foreign
Espionage

• Specific to wireless networks, and is probably
  the most prominent, and often the most costly
  type of attack.
• Also known as sniffing or eavesdropping.
• Two types of eavesdropping Passive and Active.

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Wireless Security Threats Industrial and Foreign
Espionage

• Passive The attacker simply monitors the
  wireless session after gaining access to the
  transmission. The attacker can read the actual
  data being transmitted and learn about its source
  and destination.
• Active The attacker must have access to the
  network itself so that instead of simply
  listening in, he or she may actually make changes
  to the packet itself.

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Wireless Security Threats Rouge Access Points

• Unauthorized access points that leave open doors
  to a companys network.
• Two types unintentional and intentional.
• An employee may wish to have more mobility at
  work, without setting up security parameters.
• Hackers will mimic the current Access Point to
  gain access to the network.

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Wireless Security Threats Malicious Code/Viruses

• Any program (or code) that is used intentionally
  to cause adverse affects to a system.
• Most commonly known as Viruses.
• Most threatening type of Virus is a Worm. For
  example, the Code Red worm replicated itself over
  250,000 times in approximately nine hours on July
  19, 2001.

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Wireless Security Solutions

• Built-In Security
• Authentication
• Software
• Sniffing
• Ethical Hacking

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Wireless Security Solutions Built-In Security

• Basic security built-in to 802.11 standard
  devices usually shipped with features turned off.
• First level is to change the name of the SSID and
  turn broadcasting off.
• WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) makes data about
  as secure as it would be on an unencrypted wired
  network through encryption.

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Wireless Security Solutions Authentication

• Uses keys to gain access to an access point.
• Most popular is EAP (Extensible Authentication
  Protocol) by calls for authentication from the
  server.
• A more secure form is Wireless Transport Layer
  Security (WTLS), since it calls for
  authentication of both the client and the server.

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Wireless Security SolutionsSoftware

• Make sure that each and every computer on the
  network has a reliable antivirus and firewall
  service that is updated regularly.
• Firewalls and ad-ware removers help guard against
  small everyday attacks and annoyances that can
  happen simply by stumbling onto the wrong website.

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Wireless Security SolutionsSniffing

• Use hackers type of software to sniff network
  for unauthorized transmissions.
• Purchase products that search for new,
  unauthorized access points and notify the network
  administrator.

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Wireless Security Solutions Ethical Hacking

• Ethical Hackers are hired by companies to create
  a secure environment by purposefully try to break
  into the network.
• Their job is to try to break into a companys
  network, identify its weaknesses, and offer ideas
  to fix the holes that exist.

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Questions?