“In this article, Michael talks about Linux and
background on wireless security, utilities to interrogate wireless
networks, and the top tips you should know to improve wireless
security of your network.‘Wireless’ networking is not a new concept. Even end-user and
hobby wireless networking has been around in various forms for well
over a decade, and ham radio networks still toss packets across the
airwaves today. Recently, wireless ethernet (802.11b networking,
also known as WiFi) has been gaining in popularity, and in the last
six or eight months has dropped in price to the point of becoming a
commodity – at $80 or $100 USD for a card and $120 USD for an
access point, wireless is finally becoming an option for home users
looking to avoid running cable through the house for their laptops,
for geeks and technophiles looking for something new to explore,
and for offices looking to expand worker mobility. Unfortunately,
with this wireless boom, security concerns are often overlooked,
ignored, or under-supported, either through hardware and protocol
limitations or through simple human oversight.802.11b operates in the 2.4Ghz radio frequency, and typically
has a range of 150 or 200 feet indoors. It can operate in one of
two modes, infrastructure mode, where all the client systems talk
to an access point which typically serves as a bridge to the wired
ethernet network, or in ad-hoc mode, where two 802.11b cards talk
directly without an access point. 802.11b also supports WEP
encryption of various key sizes. WEP, or Wired Equivalence Privacy,
is designed with the goal of making the wireless network as secure
as a wired network. More on WEP later. For all intents and
purposes, a 802.11b wireless network functions as a shared media
ethernet, which is to say, everyone can see all data on the
line.”