1. 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

2. 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, 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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].

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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