A. Sebbar, SE. Boulahya, G. Mezzour, M. Boulmalf An Empirical Study of Wi-Fi Security and Performance in Morocco WarDriving in Rabat A. Sebbar, SE. Boulahya, G. Mezzour, M. Boulmalf Presented by Anass SEBBAR 2nd International Conference on Electrical and Information Technologies  ICEIT 2016

WIFI Widely Used, but Poses many Challenges Many people access the Internet over WIFI Easy and simple Here at the hotel WIFI poses many security & performance challenges Unsecure WIFI Steal bandwidth See visited web pages & steak cookies Attacker can position itself between user & access point => See passwords, credit cards, email if user doesn’t detect certificate problem Performance issues Interferences (use the same channel) before WIFI(you have to stay near the cable) WIFI(connection established by wave) – LiFi

Important to Study State of WIFI in Morocco It is possible to set up WIFI properly Security: use WPA2 Performance: use different channels Unfortunately, WIFI not always properly used Security: unsecure WIFI, WEP Performance: everyboday uses the same channel Research question: What is the state of security and performance of WIFI networks in Morocco? Morocco is ICT regional leader: conferences, companies Care about network security & peformance

Study Overview 1st academic field study about WIFI security & peformance in Rabat Wardriving Drive through streets (antenna & tools) Collect info about access points Security Channel use Vendors

Wardriving - Trajectory Hay Nahda & Hay Riad (20 km) Hay Sinaii, Zair street, Mahaj Riad, and Annakhil street Trajectory contains Administrative area Administrations Industry headquarters Residential rich area Zone villa Residential urban area Appartment buildings

Wardriving - Tools The set up we use to perform WarDriving: Use a laptop that runs inSSIDer Connect a 7bB omnidirectional antenna to laptop using Wi-Fi PC card Place the antenna outside our vehicle We drive at a speed less than 11 km/h To minimize the consequences of the Doppler effect on our results We use a laptop that runs inSSIDer connect a 7bB omnidirectional antenna to laptop and place the antenna outside our vehicle

Wardriving – Information Collection Data about ~ 10,000 access points Security No security, WEP => unsecure WPA, WPA2 => secure Channel Informs about congestion level RSSI Measure of signal strength Vendor Access point market in Morocco

Trajectory The trajectory contains : Administrative areas: Many administrations, Headquarters of large companies, Rich district Mainly large, Luxurious houses, Urbain district Mainly apartment buildings, Perform a 20km path between HAY NAHDA and HAY RIAD

Most WIFI use Proper Security Vast majority use WPA or WPA2 Good news => security Small % use WEP They believe it is secure Small % use no security Lack of awareness or car Hotspots The figure shows that the vast majority (77%) of networks use either WPA or WPA21.

More Security in the Administrative District Better security in administrative district Possible reason: use of professionals Better security in big houses compared with apartment buildings Possible reason: more awareness ~ 90% use WPA/WPA2 in administrative district Vs > 75% in residential area the percentage of WIFI networks that use WPA/WPA2 in the administrative district (88%) is higher than in the rich residential district (75%), which in turn than in the urban residential district (64%). WIFI security is higher in the administrative district probably because professional IT personnel configure WIFI access points in administrations, whereas end-users configure WIFI networks in residential areas. The difference between the rich and the urban residential district may be due in a difference in security awareness across the two districts

Majority of Networks have a Usable Quality Collect RSSI & use table Reported quality < actual quality Distance Doppler effect A considerable number of networks have a low quality. a small number of networks have a medium quality or a high quality

Channel 1 most Common This figure Shows the list of used Wi-Fi channels : 27% networks use channel 1 23% of networks use channel 6 23% use channel 11 he high usage of channel 1 is surprising given that channel 6 provides the best quality. This result may be due to awareness about high interferences that can occur on channel 6 when everybody chooses that channel. Such awareness may have caused network technicians to choose different channels, namely channels 1 and 11. This in turn has caused high interferences on channels 1 and 11. We note that the best method to find the channel to use is through tools such as Nirsofts WifiInfoView [6].

Types of WIFI vendors in Rabat Always found that the default configuration is provided by the manufactures, the default name AP and SSID broadcast. Thomson Telecom is the leader with 26% because it’s access points formed by the service provider in Morocco The interest is the distribution of access points by vendor (figure 9) is the configuration of the latter. A large percentage of Aps is always found that the default configuration is provided by the manufactures, the default name AP and SSID broadcast. Usually only 77% of access points were (WEP, WPA, WPA2) and activated until the majority have left their AP Default SSID. Thomson Telecom is the leader with 26% because it’s access points formed by the service provider in Morocco that particularly the only market that vendor APs with identical configurations greatly facilitate a type of ad hoc roaming. The figure below shows access points of vendor in Morocco by order.

Related Work Many wardriving studies in countries other Morocco First wardriving was carried in 2002 American cities (boston, San Diego) Norway Barcelona 32 areas in nine contries. Example: Wifi networks that use appropriete security 76% in LONDON 64% in DUBAI WIFI security in these countries comparable to Morocco

Conclusion First academic study of WIFI security & peformance in Rabat WIFI security in the areas studied in Rabat is comparable to WIFI security in developed countries Majority of WIFI networks use channel 1 Relieve channel 6, but not optimal (should use tools) Majority of WIFI networks have a usable quality Policy recommendations Awareness programs about WIFI security and tools to choose optimal channel