24-11-2012, 04:13 PM
Seminar Report On WIRELESS LAN SECURITY
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ABSTRACT
This paper presents a radically Wireless LANs for ad hoc wireless networks. In this model, the content without doubt, wirelesses LANs have a high gee-whiz factor. They provide always-on network connectivity, but don’t require a network cable. Office workers can roam from meeting to meeting throughout a building constantly connected to the same network resources enjoyed by wired, Desk-bound coworkers. Market maturity and technology advances will lower the cost and accelerate widespread adoption
Of wireless LANs. We present results from detailed simulations that demonstrate the efficiency of our protocol and discuss the scalability of this model to larger networks.
. Introduction
Wireless LANs are a boon for organizations that don't have time to setup wired LANs, make networked temporary offices a reality and remove the wire work that goes on in setting LANs.
They are reported to reduce setting up costs by 15%. But, with these benefits come the security concerns.
One doesn't need to have physical access to your wires to get into your LANs now. Any attacker, even though sitting in your parking lot, or in your neighboring building, can make a mockery of the security mechanisms of your WLAN.
If you don't care about security, then go ahead; buy those WLAN cards/ Access Points. But, if you do, watch out for the developments on the security front of 802.11.
As this report and many such others tell, contrary to 802.11's claims, WLANs have very little security. An attacker can listen to you, take control of your laptops/desktops and forge him to be you. He can cancel your orders, make changes into your databases, or empty your credit cards.
Wireless LANs
Wireless LANs (WLANs) are quickly gaining popularity due to their ease of installation and higher employee mobility. Together with PDAs and other mobility devices, they go on to improve the quality of life.
Types of Wireless LANS
The part of success behind the popularity of WLANs is due to the availability of the 802.11 standard from IEEE. The standard specifies operation of WLANs in three ways:
• Infrastructure Mode: Every WLAN workstation (WS) communicates to any machine through an access point (AP). The machine can be in the same WLAN or connected to the outside world through the AP.
• Ad Hoc Network Mode: Every WS talks to another WS directly.
Security Features of Wireless LANs
A message traveling by air can be intercepted without physical access to the wiring of an organization. Any person, sitting in the vicinity of a WLAN with a transceiver with a capability to listen/talk, can pose a threat. Unfortunately, the same hardware that is used for WLAN communication can be employed for such attacks. To make the WLANs reliable the following
Security goals were considered:
• Confidentiality
• Data Integrity
• Access Control
The following security measures are a part of the 802.11 IEEE protocol:
• Authentication
• Association
• Encryption
Known Attacks on WEP
WEP is considered to be very vulnerable to attackers. Any attacker sitting in the parking lot of a building can attack the building's WLAN security. This is unlike the wired case whereby the attacker needs a physical access to the wires. The following known attacks have been employed on WEP.
Authentication Spoofing
This attack is another form of Message Injection. By sniffing the shared key authentication process, the attacker knows a pair of Plaintext (Random Challenge) and Cipher text (Challenge Response) and the corresponding IV. Thus he knows the required <IV, K> pair. This pair can be used for authentication purposes.