AirTraf 802.11b Security Package

An anonymous reader writes "Being ignorant of network vulnerabilities is a happy condition for only so long. Ignorance is bliss, right up until someone with rogue access drives away with your company secrets. This article covers information about AirTraf, an open source package, which performs a number of tasks, such as determining the Service Set Identifier of the access points, and the channel it is operating under. It can tell how many wireless nodes are connected to a given access point, as well as that point's total load. AirTraf is capable, too, of polling a number of sniffers through a central polling server in order to collect the most current information. The least of your fears should be the leeching of your Internet connectivity. Industrial espionage is a growing reality that you must confront."

Comments

Re:Its a very very simple equation

[s20451]

The flaw is not in the medium, it's in the protocol. Many organizations have pointed this out. The IEEE wanted to make key distribution easy, so in a system where the administrator is not absolutely on top of everything, it's very easy to learn the key and crack the network. A point-to-point, RSA encrypted wireless link should theoretically be as difficult to crack as a wired link, if designed properly.

Re:triangulation

[killthiskid]

Yes, you can.

WEP = Weak Encryption Protocol

[Bowie J. Poag]

WEP is a miserable encryption algorithm. It can be brute-forced within hours, or passively within a day or two. Simply by having WEP enabled on your access point is *no* guarantee whatsoever that your data is secure.

Now, having everything SSH tunnelled and then wrapped in a flaky WEP crust, that's different... But WEP for 802.11(x) makes about as much sense as a bicycle for a mermaid.