802.11 wireless network attacks
Wireless is a term thrown about quite a bit lately. Everything seems to be wireless to one degree or another, even some things no one ever expected to be, like refrigerators and other appliances. Most often, when the term wireless is used in regard to computing, it's to do with 802.11 networks.
Just about every new laptop that hits the market today has an 802.11 network card built in. It's a technology that has become ubiquitous, and we can hardly remember a time when it wasn't part of our lives. It's a technology that has grown in terms of speed and range to provide the capability to connect us to the Internet from anywhere in our homes or businesses.
This widespread technology would also very quickly become quite an issue from a security perspective. Users quickly demanded to "cut the cable" and be able to access the network from anywhere in the office. Home users were quick to adopt the technology to work from the kitchen, the couch, or (more oddly) the bathroom. This intense push led to a lot of overworked and underpaid information technology (IT) administrators and neighborhood computer know-it-alls installing wireless networks without properly understanding the security risks involved. These early networks would continue to "just work," with users not realizing that the security arms r*** caught up with them and even passed them, making them prime targets for attack.
Information in this chapter
- How wireless networks work
- Case study: TJX Corporation
- Understanding WEP cracking
- How to crack WEP
- It gets better and worse
- WPA and WPA2 in a nutshell
- How to crack WPA PSK and WPA2 PSK
Download a .pdf of "802.11 wireless infrastructure attacks" to see more.
