Wireless Lunchtime Learning Security School

How to counter wireless threats and vulnerabilities

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. In the featured webcast from Lesson 1 of SearchSecurity.com's Wireless Lunchtime Learning Security School, 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.

Also included in Lesson 1 are the following technical tips:
  • An introduction to wireless security
  • List of wireless network attacks
  • A wireless network vulnerability assessment checklist
  • Hunting for rogue wireless devices

In this part:

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 video, 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.

Tip: A list of wireless network attacks

Mitigating wireless network attacks can be tough. How can you assess Wi-Fi 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.

Quiz: Wireless Security School, Lesson 1

Test your retention of the material taught in Lesson 1 of this Wireless Security School.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

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