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Risk Management of Wireless Networks
An anonymous reader writes "As wireless becomes a bigger part of our networks, those of us charged with maintaining them find ourselves also responsible for keeping drive-by script kiddies with a Pringles can out. BankInfoSecurity.com is running an excellent article on identifying and mitigating risks on wireless networks. The article was written by members of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for banks, but it's applicable to any network environment and clearly lays out all the key steps to protecting wireless systems." There's nothing new here, really, but it's a good overview of issues to keep in mind when building a wireless net, as well as a good security plan starting point.
I'm sorry, but banks should not be using wirless networks. Yes, yes, I realize wires are inconvenient, but they are much more secure. This is the customer's money and lives they're dealing with, not just some company secrets.
The government already uses wireless links for data. Ever heard of satellite communications?
/. a week or so ago (or was that Ars?)
Back to the point, 802.11 networks are inherently insecure.
WEP is fairly trivial to crack for someone determined to break in. The problem lies in the init vector of the key, not the length of the key.
SSID 'hiding' achieves nothing...the first time your box associates or reassociates, a listener has your SSID.
WPA is not as secure as people think either, even with a PSK. This was covered on
MAC filtering is beyond trivial...most NIC drivers nowdays allow you to set your MAC...which you could easily see on a target network while hunting.
You can make your home network more effort than it's worth to hijack...but for business use, make damned sure you want that traffic exposed...because you simply have to assume it will be. I wouldn't install wireless client access in a work environment without the use of VPN. I've heard some interesting theories about getting past even *that*, but I've never seen or heard a practical way to do it.
Unless and until I see some more thorough reviews of the newer 802.11 security standards (EAP and it's variants) I wouldn't implicitly trust them...however I do get the feeling they are going to be far more difficult to compromise.
As mentioned in a previous post, there are a number of problems with wireless that many people don't think about, especially in a corporate environment. One of the worst is the rogue AP. I've found no less than three unauthorized WAPs on networks I've run in the last three years. Each time it was a (l)user who brought it and just plugged it into their switch port so they could 'use their laptop'. Each time, the AP was completely wide open. So much for the quarter-million-dollar security infrastructure of firewall, VPN, IDS, etc. They might as well have run a wire outside the building and hooked up a PC with a sign that said 'Free Corporate Access!'
There is yet another problem with rogue access points. Someone who brings one into close proximity with your wireless users. Guess what information the blackhat can get in that scenario?
Tell him... gently.
Explain to him that you're a hardcore networking geek with an interest in security, and that you often run security checks against your own systems. You were there, running one just for kicks, and viola! You are a patient of his presumably, so you already have a relationship and rapport... it would be different if you were some joe-blo off the street who came waltzing into his office running kismet on your Zaurus.
He probably has NO CLUE that whoever set up his network has left it open to be plundered (tech-saavy doctors are rare. Thinking about all my colleagues, I can count the tech-saavy on one hand).
Take him aside privately, and explain to him that you were hesitant to come forward (for obvious reasons... like being labeled a cracker), but that you really felt he should know what was up, not only for the security of your own medical records, but also for the security of everyone else's. Heh... he might even hire you to help fix it.
You will likely find him VERY receptive if you approach him the right way. I'm quite certain he contracts his IT stuff out to somebody, so he probably has ZERO emotional investment in the security of his network... he just wants it to work, and pass HIPAA muster (which it probably doesn't right now).
I bet he'd be receptive.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.