No one can deny the convenience of wireless LANs (WLANs), whether in your home, a hotspot at a coffee shop, a warehouse, or your office, and the growth in WLANs around the world reflects this convenience -- much to the delight of hackers who find many WLANs particularly vulnerable.
Contents
Introduction
AirDefense v AirMagnet
AirDefense v AirMagnet 2
AirDefense v AirMagnet 3
Comparison table
Bluesocket WG-1100
SonicWall Pro 5060
Specifications
Editor's choice
About RMIT
On the other hand, WLAN transmissions are free spirits that blithely pass through walls and fences into the car park, streets, and neighbouring buildings where they are susceptible to unauthorised intercept. Anyone with NetStumbler or Kismet for example can "sniff" for SSIDs and sort data to identify MAC addresses, channels and connection speeds. A hacker does not even have to be located within your WLAN's "typical" coverage umbrella, using the infamous "Pringle Can" antenna a hacker can be located many hundreds of metres away and still receive adequate signal.
Many access points (AP) and notebooks can be insecure -- for example the default settings for many brands of AP are freely available and if in the haste of installation the default password or SSID is left unchanged it can become a gateway for the hacker to infiltrate your WLAN. Depending on the security between the WLAN and wired LAN the latter may also become compromised.
At times user's may set up ad-hoc networks to transfer data to and from workstations; such a peer-to-peer network does not require an AP or authentication and can be compromised.
A rogue AP can also compromise the network -- this may be a hacker off-site, but within range of your WLAN, or more often than not an employee has installed a "more convenient" AP on your network without the administrator's sanction or more importantly the security profile of the wireless infrastructure.
To some the mention of an off-site hacker with a rogue AP conjures up an image of a nerdy looking guy with a notebook, AP, and 12V to 240V inverter but it could simply be a notebook or maybe a PDA running soft AP software such as HostAp, AirSnarf, or Hotspotter.
Strengthening your Wireless LAN Network against attacks
- Lock down the WLAN perimeter. All laptops and WLAN PCs should have personal firewalls and enterprise class APs with high security features should be deployed with all default settings such as passwords, SSIDs etc changed.
- Secure all communications across the WLAN using strong authentication, encryption, and VPNs.
- Conduct real-time monitoring of traffic -- and this is where the products tested in this comparison come in.
This month we look at software products to help you manage wireless networks and keep them secure. In this article we compare products from AirDefense and AirMagnet and also review products from Bluesocket and SonicWall. Other companies such as Roving Planet and Wavelink were invited to submit products for review but unfortunately declined to take part.
