WIRELESS NETWORKING

Introduction
Networks are no longer limited to using
cabled, or wired, devices.
Networks have a mix of wired systems
along with wireless systems that use
radio frequencies to send data to a
wireless access point.
 Introduction
The wireless access point may have a
connection to the wired network,
allowing the wireless devices to
communicate with the entire
network.
 Wireless Basics
Wireless network uses radio frequencies to
transmit data through the air.
There are two types of wireless networks
you can create: an ad hoc mode wireless
network or an infrastructure mode wireless
network.
 Wireless Basics
Each of these is known as a wireless mode,
and each has its advantages.
With ad hoc mode the wireless device, such
as a laptop, is connected to other wireless
devices in a peer-to-peer environment
without the need for a wireless access
point.
 Wireless Basics
With infrastructure mode, the wireless
clients are connected to a central device,
known as a wireless access point.
The wireless client sends data to the access
point, which then sends the data on to the
destination.
 Wireless Basics
The advantage of ad hoc mode is that you
dont need to purchase the access point,
but the benefit of infrastructure mode is
that when you use the wireless access point
you get to control who can connect to the
wireless network and filter out types of
network traffic.
Wireless Basics
 Wireless Basics
Standards
The IEEE committee has developed
wireless standards in the 802 project
models for wireless networking.
Wireless is defined by the 802.11 project
model and has several standards defined.
 Wireless Basics
802.11a
Runs at the 5 GHz frequency.
Transmit data at 54 Mbps and are
incompatible with 802.11b and 802.11g
devices.
 Wireless Basics
802.11b
Transfer rate of 11 Mbps while using a
frequency of 2.4 GHz.
These devices are compatible with 802.11g/n
devices because they run at the same
frequency and follow the WiFi standard.
 Wireless Basics
802.11g
Transfer rate of 802.11g devices is 54 Mbps
using a frequency of 2.4 GHz.
All 802.11g devices are compatible with
802.11b/n devices because they all follow the
WiFi standard and run at the same frequency
of 2.4 GHz.
 Wireless Basics

802.11n
December 2009
802.11n will supposedly support
transfer rates up to 600 Mbps!
 Wireless Basics
802.11n uses two new features: multiple
input multiple output (MIMO) and
channel bonding.
MIMO is the use of multiple antennas to
achieve more throughput than can be
accomplished with only a single antenna.
 Wireless Basics
Channel bonding allows 802.11n to transmit
data over two channels to achieve more
throughput.
802.11n is designed to be backward
compatible with 802.11a, 802.11b, and
802.11g and can run at the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz
frequency.
 Wireless Basics
Wireless networks today are called WiFi, which
stands for wireless fidelity.
802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n are all part of the
WiFi standard and as a result are compatible
with one another.
Wireless transmission speeds decrease as your
distance increases from the wireless access point.
Wireless Basics
 Wireless Basics
Channels
It was stated that 802.11b/g/n all run at the
2.4 GHz frequency, but it is important to
understand that 2.4 GHz is a frequency range.
Each frequency in the range is known as a
channel.
 Wireless Basics

Remember when troubleshooting

wireless networks that you could be
getting interference from other wireless
devices and household devices running
on the same channel.
Wireless Basics
 Wireless Basics
Authentication and Encryption
The purpose of these protocols is to help
secure your wireless network, and you
should consider them for
implementation on your wireless
network.
 Wireless Basics

WEP
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was
designed to give the wireless world a level
of security that could equate to what the
wired networking world has.
 Wireless Basics
To configure your wireless network with WEP,
you simply specify a shared key, or
passphrase, on the wireless access point.
When you configure the shared key on the
access point and client, any data sent
between the client and the access point is
encrypted with WEP.
 Wireless Basics

It is important to understand that there

were huge flaws in how WEP
implemented its encryption and key
usage, and as a result both 64-bit and
128-bit WEP have been cracked.
 Wireless Basics
WPA (WiFi Protected Access )
WPA uses a 128-bit key and the Temporal
Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), which is a
protocol that is used to change the keys
used for encryption for every packet that
is sent.
 Wireless Basics
WPA operates in two different modes,
WPA-Personal and WPA-Enterprise.
WPA-Personal is also known as WPA-
PSK, which means WPA preshared key.
 Wireless Basics
WPA-Enterprise, also known as WPA-
802.1x, is a WPA implementation that
uses a central authentication server such
as a RADIUS server for authentication
and auditing features.
 Wireless Basics
WPA2
WPA2 uses the Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES) protocol instead of TKIP
and also supports a number of additional
features such as added protection for ad
hoc networks and key caching.
 Securing Wireless

To help secure your wireless

infrastructure, you should consider
changing settings on the router such
as the admin password, the SSID, and
MAC filtering, to name a few.
 Securing Wireless
Change Admin Password
The first thing you should do when
you take the wireless router out of the
box and plug it in is change the admin
password.
 Securing Wireless

All routers have a default admin

password, so you want to be sure
to change the password from the
default.
Securing Wireless
 Securing Wireless
Service Set Identifier (SSID)
The Service Set Identifier (SSID) is a name
that you give the wireless network, and in
order for someone to connect to your
wireless network, that person needs to
know the SSID.
Securing Wireless
Securing Wireless
 Securing Wireless
Encrypt Wireless Traffic
The other point to make about using WEP or
WPA is that not only does it encrypt your
traffic but anyone who wishes to connect to
your wireless network must know the key and
input the key into their wireless card
configuration.
 Securing Wireless
VPN Solutions
Hackers can bypass the MAC filtering, they
can crack the WEP key, and they can use
Kismet to discover wireless networks even
when SSID broadcasting is disabled so how
do you ensure the security of the wireless
network?
 Securing Wireless
In a typical VPN solution for wireless clients,
the wireless client would first connect to the
wireless network.
After connecting to the wireless network and
getting an IP address, the wireless client will
then VPN into the network with the VPN
software.
 Implementing a Wireless Network

Configuring the Access Point

When you take the wireless access point,
or router, out of the box, you will first
connect your Internet modem to the
WAN port on the wireless router.
Implementing a Wireless Network
 Implementing a Wireless Network

Admin Password
The first thing you will want to do is change
the wireless routers administrative
password.
The IP address is normally 192.168.1.1 or
192.168.0.1, depending on the manufacturer.
 Implementing a Wireless Network

Wireless Security
Most wireless routers will allow you to
configure WEP or WPA to encrypt
traffic between the client and wireless
access point.
 Implementing a Wireless Network

Controlling Internet Sites

Most wireless routers today allow you to
control Internet activity such as what
times of the day the Internet is allowed to
be used and what Internet sites are
allowed to be visited.
 Implementing a Wireless Network

View Web Activity

Once you have enabled logging of
web activity, you will want to check
the logs once in a while.
 Implementing a Wireless Network

Configuring the Client

SSID Name
WEP or WPA Key
MAC Address of Client
 Implementing a Wireless Network

The following is a list of popular problems

when connecting to wireless:
Interference
Incorrect encryption
Incorrect channel or frequency
 Implementing a Wireless Network

Extended Service Set ID (ESSID) mismatch

Standard mismatch (802.11a/b/g/n)
Distance and bounce
Incorrect antenna placement
 Infrared and Bluetooth

Infrared
Infrared devices contain a transceiver
that sends and receives light signals as
on-off patterns to create the data that
travels at transfer rates up to 4 Mbps.
 Infrared and Bluetooth

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a radio frequency wireless
technology that allows systems to
connect to peripherals over a distance of
up to 10 meters away
 Infrared and Bluetooth

Bluetooth is less susceptible to

interference because it uses spread-
spectrum frequency hopping, which
means that it can hop between any of 79
frequencies in the 2.4 GHz range.
 Infrared and Bluetooth
Bluetooth hops between frequencies
1600 times per second and provides a
transfer rate of up to 1 Mbps.
Bluetooth is a popular technology with
handheld devices such as PDAs and cell
phones.
 Infrared and Bluetooth
There are huge security risks with Bluetooth,
as it is possible for a hacker to connect to
your cell phone remotely via Bluetooth and
steal data off your phone.
Disable Bluetooth
Phone Visibility
Pair Security