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Appendix B: Wireless Security
Security Threats Facing Wireless Networks
Dual-Band Wireless A+G Notebook Adapter
1. Disable Broadcast
2. Make it unique
3. Change it often
Most wireless networking devices will give you the option of broadcasting the SSID. While this option may be
more convenient, it allows anyone to log into your wireless network. This includes hackers. So, don’t broadcast
the SSID.
Wireless networking products come with a default SSID set by the factory. (The Linksys default SSID is “linksys”.)
Hackers know these defaults and can check these against your network. Change your SSID to something unique
and not something related to your company or the networking products you use.
Change your SSID regularly so that any hackers who have gained access to your wireless network will have to
start from the beginning in trying to break in.
MAC Addresses. Enable MAC Address filtering. MAC Address filtering will allow you to provide access to only
those wireless nodes with certain MAC Addresses. This makes it harder for a hacker to access your network with
a random MAC Address.
WEP Encryption. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is often looked upon as a cure-all for wireless security
concerns. This is overstating WEP’s ability. Again, this can only provide enough security to make a hacker’s job
more difficult.
There are several ways that WEP can be maximized:
1. Use the highest level of encryption possible
2. Use “Shared Key” authentication
3. Change your WEP key regularly
WPA. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is the newest and best available standard in Wi-Fi security. Two modes are
available: WPA-PSK and WPA-RADIUS. WPA-PSK gives you a choice of two encryption methods: TKIP (Temporal
Key Integrity Protocol), which utilizes a stronger encryption method and incorporates Message Integrity Code
(MIC) to provide protection against hackers, and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), which utilizes a symmetric
128-Bit block data encryption. WPA-RADIUS offers two encryption methods, TKIP and AES, with dynamic
encryption keys, and it uses a RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) server for authentication.
WPA-PSK. If you do not have a RADIUS server, select the type of algorithm you want to use, TKIP or AES, and
enter a password in the Passphrase field of 8-63 characters.
Important: Always remember that each
device in your wireless network MUST use
the same encryption method and encryption
key or your wireless network will not function
properly.