In Lesson 1 of Wireless Security Lunchtime Learning, you'll gain a better understanding of the Wi-Fi security challenge in terms of the technology's inherent vulnerabilities and the threats posed against it. Armed with this knowledge, you can realistically assess business risk and take steps to effectively defend your network from wireless intruders.
An introduction to wireless security
Two out of three companies have deployed business-class 802.11 wireless LANs, but security continues to be their number one challenge. Without adequate safeguards, wireless can open corporate networks to new attacks, from war driving and password cracking to rogues and evil twins. Don't let Wi-Fi become the weak link in your network's armor! Learn the business risks posed by wireless, essential countermeasures that can reduce those risks, and industry best practices for designing, deploying and monitoring secure wireless LANs.
VIDEO: Risky business: Understanding Wi-Fi threats
802.11 wireless LANs can reduce network installation cost, make your workforce more productive and improve your company's bottom line. But poorly-secured WLANs can also leave your company's network vulnerable to misuse and attack, jeopardizing business assets. In this webcast, you will learn why most WLANs are inherently vulnerable, right from the start. You will see how hackers leverage common weaknesses to gather confidential data, prey upon wireless users and penetrate business networks.
Mitigating wireless network attacks can be tough. How can you assess WiFi vulnerabilities to prevent the big business impact of an exploited flaw? This tip brings order to the chaos. A vulnerability reference chart categorizes common and uncommon Wi-Fi attacks, and maps them to the methods hackers use to exploit WLANs.
Tip: A wireless network vulnerability assessment checklist
Rigorous, regular vulnerability assessments can help you find and fix your WLAN's weaknesses before attackers take advantage of them. But where do you start? What should you look for? Have you covered all the bases? This checklist will help to answer these questions by providing a framework from which to develop a vulnerability assessment process that fits your own WLAN.
Tip: Hunting for rogue wireless devices
Whether your company has officially deployed or outright banned Wi-Fi, your offices have probably been visited by unauthorized, or rogue, 802.11 devices. Most WLAN administrators cite rogue elimination as a top priority, and detecting unknown devices is relatively easy. But actually tracking down rogues for elimination can be surprisingly hard. This tip describes a methodical process for rogue hunting and identifies tools that can make this common task easier.
Lesson 1 quiz
Test your retention of the material taught in Lesson 1 of Wireless Security Lunchtime Learning.
Lisa Phifer owns Core Competence Inc., a consulting firm specializing in network security and management technology. Lisa has been involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of data communications, internetworking, security and network management products for over 25 years. At Core Competence, she has advised large and small companies regarding security needs, product assessment and the use of emerging technologies and best practices. Before joining Core Competence, Lisa was a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Communications Research where she won a president's award for her work on ATM Network Management.
Lisa teaches about wireless LANs, mobile security and virtual private networking at many industry conferences and on-line webinars. Lisa's WLAN Advisor and Wireless-To-Go columns are published by SearchNetworking.com and SearchMobileComputing.com where she is a site expert on wireless LANs. She also has written extensively about network infrastructure and security technologies for numerous publications including Wi-Fi Planet, ISP-Planet, Business Communications Review, Information Security and SearchSecurity.com.
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