Filed under: Wireless | Tags: Debunking, Insecure, Intrinsically, Legends, Networks, Part, Urban, Wireless
Securing a wireless network is serious business for any IT professional, but how secure do you need to be to truly protect your network from being attacked and ultimately compromised, and which techniques will best afford the desired results? WEP, WPA PSK, WPA Enterprise, WPA2 PSK, WPA2 Enterprise; with all of the wireless security standards and options available and conflicting advice of supposed wireless experts, it’s no wonder confusion reigns supreme resulting in the perpetuation of urban legends. To develop a comprehensive wireless security plan, it is essential to know the facts, so we will first discuss the various wireless security options available.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. – Sun Tzu
Wireless security options
* WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) – A deprecated wireless security protocol initially introduced in 1999 to secure 802.11 wireless networks. In 2001, many serious cryptological weaknesses were identified resulting in WEP being compromised within a matter of minutes.
* WPA (WiFI Protected Access) – A wireless security system developed in response to the weaknesses of WEP. WPA was designed to replace WEP while the full security standard (802.11i) was being developed in the form of WPA2. WPA implements the majority of the 802.11i standard and was specifically designed to work with first generation (pre-WPA standard) wireless network interface cards. (more…)
