2. 2
• Exists in infrastructure mode or
ad hoc mode .
• ad hoc mode : Clients communicate without
the aid of a Central access Point.
• Infrastructure mode : Usually a WLAN
connected with a wired network.
WIRELESS
( LOCAL AREA NETWORK )
3. 3
TYPES OF WIRELESS LANs
• Infrared LAN : Used to connect computers
within a room.They can’t penetrate opaque
walls.
• Spread Spectrum LAN : Uses the spread
spectrum technology to communicate.
• Narrowband microwave : Use micro waves
to communicate.
4. 4
TECHNOLOGY VIEW
(Standards for wireless LAN)
• Hyper LAN : It’s an European
telecommunication standards institutes
(ETSI) standard.
• Bluetooth : Specified by Bluetooth special
interest group.Used for short range wireless
connectivity.
• 802.11 wireless technology : Specified by
the IEEE(Institute of Electrical &
Electronics).
5. 5
WIRELESS LANs
ARE TARGETS
• Medium for communication air hence most
insecure.
• Constantly hammering an access point with
access requests can cause jamming.
• Interference with other wireless services
using the same frequency range e.g.
Bluetooth.
6. 6
WIRELESS LANs
ARE TERGETS
• MAC authentication fail in front of
firmware using randomly chosen spoofed
address.
• In case of ad hoc modes any hacker with a
adapter configured for ad hoc mode can
easily access the peer to peer network.
7. 7
SECURING THE
WIRELESS NETWORKS
• Checking the rogue access points.
• WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) frame
encryption.
• IP sec (Internet protocol security) .
• 802.1x/EAP :
8. 8
1)ROGUE ACCESS POINTS
• A rogue access point is one that is
accessible to an organizations employees
but is not managed as a part of the trusted
network (with no security measures
enabled).
9. 9
2)WEP FRAME ENCRYPTION
• Process of converting clear text to cipher text.
Decryption is reverse of the process.
• Key is the only piece of information to be shared
by both the end points.
10. 10
2)WEP HAS FLAWS
• Static WEP keying calls for the tiring job of
entering the same keys on every device.
• If a device using static WEP key is lost, the
possessor of the device can be easily
access the LAN.
• WEP uses RC4 encryption.Which becomes
unsafe when initialization vector is
repeated.
11. 11
2) TKIP & AES
(WEP Enhancements)
• TKIP include per packet keying and message
integrity check.
• AES, a stronger alternative to RC4.
12. 12
3) IPsec (Internet Protocol
security)
• IPsec design is a frame work for multiple
services like secrecy, data integrity and
protection from replay attacks.
• Consists of 2 parts :
1st carries security identifier
2nd deals with establishing keys
• Used in Transport mode and Tunnel mode.
13. 13
4) 802.1x/EAP
EAP(Extensible Authentication Protocol) types
LEAP
(widely deployed
EAP type
in use today)
TLS
uses digital certificates
for both user and
server authentication
PEAP
Uses digital
certificate for
server authentication
EAP
(frame work for providing
centralized authentication
and dynamic key distribution)
17. 17
Much more to be done
• Wireless communication still prone to
insecurities.
• Stronger and full proof encryption
techniques , than the currently used
RC4must be developed.
• Much more research needed in the design
field of wireless technology.
