Hackproofing Your Wireless Network - Softcover

Syngress

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1928994598 ISBN 13: 9781928994596

Publisher: Syngress, 2002

Synopsis

The only way to stop a hacker is to think like one!

Wireless technology is a new and rapidly growing field of concentration for network engineers and administrators. Innovative technology is now making the communication between computers a cordless affair. Wireless devices and networks are vulnerable to additional security risks because of their presence in the mobile environment.

Hack Proofing Your Wireless Network is the only book written specifically for architects, engineers, and administrators responsible for securing their wireless networks. From making sense of the various acronyms (WAP, WEP, SSL, PKE, PKI, SSL, SSH, IPSEC) to the implementation of security policies, plans, and recovery protocols, this book will help users secure their wireless network before its security is compromised. The only way to stop a hacker is to think like one...this book details the multiple ways a hacker can attack a wireless network - and then provides users with the knowledge they need to prevent said attacks.

• Uses forensic-based analysis to give the reader an insight into the mind of a hacker
• With the growth of wireless networks architects, engineers and administrators will need this book
• Up to the minute Web based support at www.solutions@syngress.com

About this title

Review

With the arrival of IEEE 802.11b (aka WiFi) and other wireless networking technologies on the market comes a wave of stories about snoops intercepting sensitive LAN traffic from out in the company parking lot or across the concourse at the airport. Hack Proofing Your Wireless Network takes a look at strategies for defending wireless LANs--those based on Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11a as well as WiFi--against signal interception and other attacks peculiar to their wireless nature. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of background information on WiFi (as well as on security principles in general), and this is related to wireless network security only tangentially. Though this material represents unneeded padding, the bulk of the book is made up of useful information about security strategies and defensive configuration. There's also a fair bit of information about the security characteristics of some top-selling wireless networking products.

In a section on choosing WiFi access points, the authors give a very explicit list of requirements (the ability to disable service-set identifier broadcasts, 128-bit Wired Equivalent Protocol--WEP--and so on), and list at least three real products (by make and model) that fit the specifications. They then proceed to show how to choose the most secure configuration options on each of the featured products, including the Cisco Systems Aironet and the Agere ORiNOCO. Configuration instructions are easy to follow and illustrated in detail. Information on the offensive side of the equation is shallower--the authors point out that it's possible to drive around, looking for unsecured wireless access points and that WEP has security flaws. Still, this book is one of the first on security for wireless networks, and it provides a lot of good information to the administrators of such networks. --David Wall, Amazon.com

Topics covered: The special security characteristics of wireless networks (primarily including, but not limited to, those operating under the IEEE 802.11 standards) and some recommended procedures for the administrators of such networks. Wired Equivalent Protocol (WEP), MAC filtering, and virtual private networks (VPNs) tailored for use in wireless environments get particularly admirable coverage.

Edition details

• Publisher: Syngress
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1928994598
• ISBN 13: 9781928994596
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 608