Re: [fw-wiz] Wireless

From: Jeff Newton (Jeff_Newton@pmc-sierra.com)
Date: 08/09/02


From: Jeff Newton <Jeff_Newton@pmc-sierra.com>
To: "R. DuFresne" <dufresne@sysinfo.com>
Date: Fri Aug  9 21:31:01 2002

Absolutely. Not only are management frames in the clear, they are not
authenticated nor even acknowledged in most cases.

If you want to completely rid your enterprise of 802.11b, try this nice DOS:

- set up a bunch of machines with 802.11b NICs, ensuring good wireless
coverage.
- broadcast 'disassociate' management frames from all NICs

No one is going to be able to associate with a WAP, rogue or otherwise!

Cheers,

"R. DuFresne" wrote:

> On Fri, 9 Aug 2002, Jeff Newton wrote:
>
> > ejb3@cornell.edu wrote:
> >
> > > Find rogue networks the same way their users do, with netstumbler or
> > > something similar. Anything that's got an SSID other than the official
> > > one, or that's offering up addresses beyond the approved wireless range
> > > gets hunted down.
> >
> > Netstumbler is great at finding "mis-configured" WAPs, or those with
> > SSID broadcast enabled. If the user has disabled the broadcast, nothing
> > short of a wireless sniffer is going to see it.
> >
>
> Even with SSID broadcast disabled, those management packets will contain
> the SSID's when folks are communicating with the AP or through it. Not
> much trouble to sniff this leakage out for sure.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ron DuFresne
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> admin & senior security consultant: sysinfo.com
> http://sysinfo.com
>
> "Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity. It
> eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
> business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation."
> -- Johnny Hart
>
> testing, only testing, and damn good at it too!
>
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--
Jeff Newton, CISSP
Information Security Analyst
PMC-Sierra Inc.


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