1. December 17, 2002 1 Wi-Fi Mark Faggiano GBA 576

2. December 17, 20022 Purpose of the Project  I hear Wi-Fi, WLAN, 802.11 everywhere  What does it all mean?

3. December 17, 20023 What’s in a Name? Wi-Fi is:  Short for Wireless Fidelity  Popular Term for Wireless LAN (WLAN)  Also known as 802.11b

4. December 17, 20024 What is 802.11? 802.11 is:  A related group of specifications for WLANs developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)  Currently, there are four different specifications in this group: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g

5. December 17, 20025 What does Wi-Fi Do? Wi-Fi:  Works a lot like a cell phone.  Allows computers to send and receive data to each other anywhere within the range of a base station.  Works without the use of a traditional infrastructure like cable and wires

6. December 17, 20026 Two Modes to Choose From Wi-Fi can be implemented in an…  Ad-hoc or Independent Basic Service Set  Infrastructure or Basic Service Set

7. December 17, 20027 Ad-hoc Mode  Peer-to-peer network (i.e., one computer is “connected” with another)

8. December 17, 20028 Infrastructure Mode  Each wireless client computer deals with an access point via a radio link (i.e., a NIC card).  The access point connects to the Ethernet enterprise network using a standard Ethernet cable, and provides the wireless client computer with access to the wired Ethernet network.  Much more commonplace because access points are cheaper nowadays and a lot easier to set up.

9. December 17, 20029 Who Cares? The benefits to Wi-Fi include:  Cost  Ease of Use –Out-of-the-Box solutions  Increased Adoption –Starbucks –Cities with wireless access points

10. December 17, 200210 Here to Stay?  20 percent of “large” companies currently have wireless LANs in addition to their existing wired networks  Estimated that 50 percent of U.S. companies will use the technology by 2003  Sales of wireless network cards and access points to grow from $1.9 billion in 2001 to $5.2 billion in 2005

11. December 17, 200211 Wi-Fi and Security Security is an issue because:  Adoption was the goal  Access points are usually behind firewall  Existing security measures are “inadequate”

12. December 17, 200212 Existing Security  Built-in security is called Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP). –Two levels commonly available:  64-bit encryption and 128-bit encryption –Experts disagree if this security is enough. Regardless of what experts believe about either level of security in WEP, almost all believe that ignoring both of the built-in options is a huge mistake.  AirSnort can crack the encryption by “listening” to the Wi-Fi networks’ traffic for a considerably short period of time

13. December 17, 200213 Security Study Tools Needed  NetStumbler (shareware) –Identifies 802.11b signals as it “logs the MAC address of the access point, the network name, SSID, manufacturer, channel that the signal was heard on, WEP enabled (Yes or No), signal strength, signal to noise ratio, and other various flags.” In addition, latitude and longitude data points are recorded if the access point emits standard GPS data.  Antenna –Detects the signals. –Can be purchased from $60 to $130.

14. December 17, 200214 Security Study (con’t) Methodology  Writers checked several locations around the country (New York City, Jersey City, New England, and Silicon Valley).  Locations were “checked” by either driving down a street populated by multiple businesses or by simply sitting on top of a building (as was the case in New York City)

15. December 17, 200215 Security Study (con’t) Results  Over 800 access points detected –Some as far away as 6 blocks  Less than 40 percent WEP-enabled  Several attempts to gain access to networks were successful

16. December 17, 200216 Security Options  VPN (Virtual Private Networks) –Creates a secure virtual “tunnel” from the end-user’s computer through the end-user’s access point, though the Internet, all the way to a corporation’s servers and systems  MAC (media Access Control) Filtering –Accept only certain MAC addresses and filter out all others  RADIUS –A user name and password scheme that enables only approved users to access the network; it does not affect or encrypt data  Kerberos –Network authentication system based on key distribution

17. December 17, 200217 Questions