Air Crack
Aircrack is an 802.11 WEP and WPA-PSK keys cracking program that can recover keys once enough data packets have been captured. It implements the standard FMS attack along with some optimizations like KoreK attacks, thus making the attack much faster compared to other WEP cracking tools. In fact, aircrack is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks.
Air Decap
decrypts WEP/WPA capture files. Part of the aircrack suite.
Air Replay
802.11 packet injection program. Part of the aircrack suite.
Airpwn
Airpwn requires two 802.11 interfaces in the case where driver can't inject in monitor mode (lots of chipsets do nowadays, see HCL:Wireless for a list). It uses a config file with multiple config sections to respond to specific data packets with arbitrary content. For example, in the HTML goatse example, we look for any TCP data packets starting with "GET" or "POST" and respond with a valid server response including a reference to the canonical goatse image.
AirSnarf
Airsnarf is a simple rogue wireless access point setup utility designed to demonstrate how a rogue AP can steal usernames and passwords from public wireless hotspots. Airsnarf was developed and released to demonstrate an inherent vulnerability of public 802.11b hotspots snarfing usernames and passwords by confusing users with DNS and HTTP redirects from a competing AP
Airsnort
AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered.
CowPatty
Cowpatty is designed to audit the pre-shared key (PSK) selection for WPA networks based on the TKIP protocol. A while back, Robert Moskowitz published a paper titled "Weakness in Passphrase Choice in WPA Interface" that described a dictionary attack against wireless networks using the TKIP protocol with a pre-shared key (PSK). Supply a libpcap file that includes the TKIP four-way handshake, a dictionary file of passphrases to guess with and the SSID for the network
FakeAP
Black Alchemy's Fake AP generates thousands of counterfeit 802.11b access points. Hide in plain sight amongst Fake AP's cacophony of beacon frames. As part of a honeypot or as an instrument of your site security plan, Fake AP confuses Wardrivers, NetStumblers, Script Kiddies, and other undesirables
Genpmk
genpmk is used to precompute the hash files in a similar way to Rainbow tables is used to pre-hash passwords in Windows LANMan attacks. There is a slight difference however in WPA in that the SSID of the network is used as well as the WPA-PSK to "salt" the hash. This means that we need a different set of hashes for each and every unique SSID i.e. a set for "linksys" a set for "tsunami" etc
Hotspotter
Hotspotter passively monitors the network for probe request frames to identify the preferred networks of Windows XP clients, and will compare it to a supplied list of common hotspot network names. If the probed network name matches a common hotspot name, Hotspotter will act as an access point to allow the client to authenticate and associate. Once associated, Hotspotter can be configured to run a command, possibly a script to kick off a DHCP daemon and other scanning against the new victim
Karma
KARMA is a set of tools for assessing the security of wireless clients at multiple layers. Wireless sniffing tools discover clients and their preferred/trusted networks by passively listening for 802.11 Probe Request frames. From there, individual clients can be targetted by creating a Rogue AP for one of their probed networks (which they may join automatically) or using a custom driver that responds to services can then capture credentials or exploit client-side vulnerabilities on the host.
Kismet
Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting standard named networks, detecting (and given time, decloaking) hidden networks, and infering the presence of nonbeaconing networks via data traffic.
Wep_crack
WepAttack is a WLAN open source Linux tool for breaking 802.11 WEP keys. This tool is based on an active dictionary attack that tests millions of words to find the right key. Only one packet is required to start an attack.
Wep_decrypt
a program for decrypting captured 802.11 traffic that is protect with WEP traffic. It reads in a pcap capture file, such as that generated by prismdump, and outputs another pcap capture file with decrypted packets. By default it will read from stdin and ouput to stdout. The key to decrypt with can be specified as a string of hex characters, optionally seperated by spaces or colons, or as a text string. If a text string is specified, the actual keying material will be generated by the string in the (ad hoc) standard fashion used by many drivers.
WifiTap
Wifitap is a proof of concept for communication over WLAN networks using traffic injection. Wifitap allows direct communication with an associated station to a given access point directly, whilst not being associated ourselves or being handled by access point.
Showing posts with label Hacker Toolkit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hacker Toolkit. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 July 2006
Summary of WiFi hacking tools
Air Crack
Aircrack is an 802.11 WEP and WPA-PSK keys cracking program that can recover keys once enough data packets have been captured. It implements the standard FMS attack along with some optimizations like KoreK attacks, thus making the attack much faster compared to other WEP cracking tools. In fact, aircrack is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks.
Air Decap
decrypts WEP/WPA capture files. Part of the aircrack suite.
Air Replay
802.11 packet injection program. Part of the aircrack suite.
Airpwn
Airpwn requires two 802.11 interfaces in the case where driver can't inject in monitor mode (lots of chipsets do nowadays, see HCL:Wireless for a list). It uses a config file with multiple config sections to respond to specific data packets with arbitrary content. For example, in the HTML goatse example, we look for any TCP data packets starting with "GET" or "POST" and respond with a valid server response including a reference to the canonical goatse image.
AirSnarf
Airsnarf is a simple rogue wireless access point setup utility designed to demonstrate how a rogue AP can steal usernames and passwords from public wireless hotspots. Airsnarf was developed and released to demonstrate an inherent vulnerability of public 802.11b hotspots snarfing usernames and passwords by confusing users with DNS and HTTP redirects from a competing AP
Airsnort
AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered.
CowPatty
Cowpatty is designed to audit the pre-shared key (PSK) selection for WPA networks based on the TKIP protocol. A while back, Robert Moskowitz published a paper titled "Weakness in Passphrase Choice in WPA Interface" that described a dictionary attack against wireless networks using the TKIP protocol with a pre-shared key (PSK). Supply a libpcap file that includes the TKIP four-way handshake, a dictionary file of passphrases to guess with and the SSID for the network
FakeAP
Black Alchemy's Fake AP generates thousands of counterfeit 802.11b access points. Hide in plain sight amongst Fake AP's cacophony of beacon frames. As part of a honeypot or as an instrument of your site security plan, Fake AP confuses Wardrivers, NetStumblers, Script Kiddies, and other undesirables
Genpmk
genpmk is used to precompute the hash files in a similar way to Rainbow tables is used to pre-hash passwords in Windows LANMan attacks. There is a slight difference however in WPA in that the SSID of the network is used as well as the WPA-PSK to "salt" the hash. This means that we need a different set of hashes for each and every unique SSID i.e. a set for "linksys" a set for "tsunami" etc
Hotspotter
Hotspotter passively monitors the network for probe request frames to identify the preferred networks of Windows XP clients, and will compare it to a supplied list of common hotspot network names. If the probed network name matches a common hotspot name, Hotspotter will act as an access point to allow the client to authenticate and associate. Once associated, Hotspotter can be configured to run a command, possibly a script to kick off a DHCP daemon and other scanning against the new victim
Karma
KARMA is a set of tools for assessing the security of wireless clients at multiple layers. Wireless sniffing tools discover clients and their preferred/trusted networks by passively listening for 802.11 Probe Request frames. From there, individual clients can be targetted by creating a Rogue AP for one of their probed networks (which they may join automatically) or using a custom driver that responds to services can then capture credentials or exploit client-side vulnerabilities on the host.
Kismet
Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting standard named networks, detecting (and given time, decloaking) hidden networks, and infering the presence of nonbeaconing networks via data traffic.
Wep_crack
WepAttack is a WLAN open source Linux tool for breaking 802.11 WEP keys. This tool is based on an active dictionary attack that tests millions of words to find the right key. Only one packet is required to start an attack.
Wep_decrypt
a program for decrypting captured 802.11 traffic that is protect with WEP traffic. It reads in a pcap capture file, such as that generated by prismdump, and outputs another pcap capture file with decrypted packets. By default it will read from stdin and ouput to stdout. The key to decrypt with can be specified as a string of hex characters, optionally seperated by spaces or colons, or as a text string. If a text string is specified, the actual keying material will be generated by the string in the (ad hoc) standard fashion used by many drivers.
WifiTap
Wifitap is a proof of concept for communication over WLAN networks using traffic injection. Wifitap allows direct communication with an associated station to a given access point directly, whilst not being associated ourselves or being handled by access point.
Aircrack is an 802.11 WEP and WPA-PSK keys cracking program that can recover keys once enough data packets have been captured. It implements the standard FMS attack along with some optimizations like KoreK attacks, thus making the attack much faster compared to other WEP cracking tools. In fact, aircrack is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks.
Air Decap
decrypts WEP/WPA capture files. Part of the aircrack suite.
Air Replay
802.11 packet injection program. Part of the aircrack suite.
Airpwn
Airpwn requires two 802.11 interfaces in the case where driver can't inject in monitor mode (lots of chipsets do nowadays, see HCL:Wireless for a list). It uses a config file with multiple config sections to respond to specific data packets with arbitrary content. For example, in the HTML goatse example, we look for any TCP data packets starting with "GET" or "POST" and respond with a valid server response including a reference to the canonical goatse image.
AirSnarf
Airsnarf is a simple rogue wireless access point setup utility designed to demonstrate how a rogue AP can steal usernames and passwords from public wireless hotspots. Airsnarf was developed and released to demonstrate an inherent vulnerability of public 802.11b hotspots snarfing usernames and passwords by confusing users with DNS and HTTP redirects from a competing AP
Airsnort
AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered.
CowPatty
Cowpatty is designed to audit the pre-shared key (PSK) selection for WPA networks based on the TKIP protocol. A while back, Robert Moskowitz published a paper titled "Weakness in Passphrase Choice in WPA Interface" that described a dictionary attack against wireless networks using the TKIP protocol with a pre-shared key (PSK). Supply a libpcap file that includes the TKIP four-way handshake, a dictionary file of passphrases to guess with and the SSID for the network
FakeAP
Black Alchemy's Fake AP generates thousands of counterfeit 802.11b access points. Hide in plain sight amongst Fake AP's cacophony of beacon frames. As part of a honeypot or as an instrument of your site security plan, Fake AP confuses Wardrivers, NetStumblers, Script Kiddies, and other undesirables
Genpmk
genpmk is used to precompute the hash files in a similar way to Rainbow tables is used to pre-hash passwords in Windows LANMan attacks. There is a slight difference however in WPA in that the SSID of the network is used as well as the WPA-PSK to "salt" the hash. This means that we need a different set of hashes for each and every unique SSID i.e. a set for "linksys" a set for "tsunami" etc
Hotspotter
Hotspotter passively monitors the network for probe request frames to identify the preferred networks of Windows XP clients, and will compare it to a supplied list of common hotspot network names. If the probed network name matches a common hotspot name, Hotspotter will act as an access point to allow the client to authenticate and associate. Once associated, Hotspotter can be configured to run a command, possibly a script to kick off a DHCP daemon and other scanning against the new victim
Karma
KARMA is a set of tools for assessing the security of wireless clients at multiple layers. Wireless sniffing tools discover clients and their preferred/trusted networks by passively listening for 802.11 Probe Request frames. From there, individual clients can be targetted by creating a Rogue AP for one of their probed networks (which they may join automatically) or using a custom driver that responds to services can then capture credentials or exploit client-side vulnerabilities on the host.
Kismet
Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting standard named networks, detecting (and given time, decloaking) hidden networks, and infering the presence of nonbeaconing networks via data traffic.
Wep_crack
WepAttack is a WLAN open source Linux tool for breaking 802.11 WEP keys. This tool is based on an active dictionary attack that tests millions of words to find the right key. Only one packet is required to start an attack.
Wep_decrypt
a program for decrypting captured 802.11 traffic that is protect with WEP traffic. It reads in a pcap capture file, such as that generated by prismdump, and outputs another pcap capture file with decrypted packets. By default it will read from stdin and ouput to stdout. The key to decrypt with can be specified as a string of hex characters, optionally seperated by spaces or colons, or as a text string. If a text string is specified, the actual keying material will be generated by the string in the (ad hoc) standard fashion used by many drivers.
WifiTap
Wifitap is a proof of concept for communication over WLAN networks using traffic injection. Wifitap allows direct communication with an associated station to a given access point directly, whilst not being associated ourselves or being handled by access point.
Summary of WiFi hacking tools
Air Crack
Aircrack is an 802.11 WEP and WPA-PSK keys cracking program that can recover keys once enough data packets have been captured. It implements the standard FMS attack along with some optimizations like KoreK attacks, thus making the attack much faster compared to other WEP cracking tools. In fact, aircrack is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks.
Air Decap
decrypts WEP/WPA capture files. Part of the aircrack suite.
Air Replay
802.11 packet injection program. Part of the aircrack suite.
Airpwn
Airpwn requires two 802.11 interfaces in the case where driver can't inject in monitor mode (lots of chipsets do nowadays, see HCL:Wireless for a list). It uses a config file with multiple config sections to respond to specific data packets with arbitrary content. For example, in the HTML goatse example, we look for any TCP data packets starting with "GET" or "POST" and respond with a valid server response including a reference to the canonical goatse image.
AirSnarf
Airsnarf is a simple rogue wireless access point setup utility designed to demonstrate how a rogue AP can steal usernames and passwords from public wireless hotspots. Airsnarf was developed and released to demonstrate an inherent vulnerability of public 802.11b hotspots snarfing usernames and passwords by confusing users with DNS and HTTP redirects from a competing AP
Airsnort
AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered.
CowPatty
Cowpatty is designed to audit the pre-shared key (PSK) selection for WPA networks based on the TKIP protocol. A while back, Robert Moskowitz published a paper titled "Weakness in Passphrase Choice in WPA Interface" that described a dictionary attack against wireless networks using the TKIP protocol with a pre-shared key (PSK). Supply a libpcap file that includes the TKIP four-way handshake, a dictionary file of passphrases to guess with and the SSID for the network
FakeAP
Black Alchemy's Fake AP generates thousands of counterfeit 802.11b access points. Hide in plain sight amongst Fake AP's cacophony of beacon frames. As part of a honeypot or as an instrument of your site security plan, Fake AP confuses Wardrivers, NetStumblers, Script Kiddies, and other undesirables
Genpmk
genpmk is used to precompute the hash files in a similar way to Rainbow tables is used to pre-hash passwords in Windows LANMan attacks. There is a slight difference however in WPA in that the SSID of the network is used as well as the WPA-PSK to "salt" the hash. This means that we need a different set of hashes for each and every unique SSID i.e. a set for "linksys" a set for "tsunami" etc
Hotspotter
Hotspotter passively monitors the network for probe request frames to identify the preferred networks of Windows XP clients, and will compare it to a supplied list of common hotspot network names. If the probed network name matches a common hotspot name, Hotspotter will act as an access point to allow the client to authenticate and associate. Once associated, Hotspotter can be configured to run a command, possibly a script to kick off a DHCP daemon and other scanning against the new victim
Karma
KARMA is a set of tools for assessing the security of wireless clients at multiple layers. Wireless sniffing tools discover clients and their preferred/trusted networks by passively listening for 802.11 Probe Request frames. From there, individual clients can be targetted by creating a Rogue AP for one of their probed networks (which they may join automatically) or using a custom driver that responds to services can then capture credentials or exploit client-side vulnerabilities on the host.
Kismet
Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting standard named networks, detecting (and given time, decloaking) hidden networks, and infering the presence of nonbeaconing networks via data traffic.
Wep_crack
WepAttack is a WLAN open source Linux tool for breaking 802.11 WEP keys. This tool is based on an active dictionary attack that tests millions of words to find the right key. Only one packet is required to start an attack.
Wep_decrypt
a program for decrypting captured 802.11 traffic that is protect with WEP traffic. It reads in a pcap capture file, such as that generated by prismdump, and outputs another pcap capture file with decrypted packets. By default it will read from stdin and ouput to stdout. The key to decrypt with can be specified as a string of hex characters, optionally seperated by spaces or colons, or as a text string. If a text string is specified, the actual keying material will be generated by the string in the (ad hoc) standard fashion used by many drivers.
WifiTap
Wifitap is a proof of concept for communication over WLAN networks using traffic injection. Wifitap allows direct communication with an associated station to a given access point directly, whilst not being associated ourselves or being handled by access point.
Aircrack is an 802.11 WEP and WPA-PSK keys cracking program that can recover keys once enough data packets have been captured. It implements the standard FMS attack along with some optimizations like KoreK attacks, thus making the attack much faster compared to other WEP cracking tools. In fact, aircrack is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks.
Air Decap
decrypts WEP/WPA capture files. Part of the aircrack suite.
Air Replay
802.11 packet injection program. Part of the aircrack suite.
Airpwn
Airpwn requires two 802.11 interfaces in the case where driver can't inject in monitor mode (lots of chipsets do nowadays, see HCL:Wireless for a list). It uses a config file with multiple config sections to respond to specific data packets with arbitrary content. For example, in the HTML goatse example, we look for any TCP data packets starting with "GET" or "POST" and respond with a valid server response including a reference to the canonical goatse image.
AirSnarf
Airsnarf is a simple rogue wireless access point setup utility designed to demonstrate how a rogue AP can steal usernames and passwords from public wireless hotspots. Airsnarf was developed and released to demonstrate an inherent vulnerability of public 802.11b hotspots snarfing usernames and passwords by confusing users with DNS and HTTP redirects from a competing AP
Airsnort
AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered.
CowPatty
Cowpatty is designed to audit the pre-shared key (PSK) selection for WPA networks based on the TKIP protocol. A while back, Robert Moskowitz published a paper titled "Weakness in Passphrase Choice in WPA Interface" that described a dictionary attack against wireless networks using the TKIP protocol with a pre-shared key (PSK). Supply a libpcap file that includes the TKIP four-way handshake, a dictionary file of passphrases to guess with and the SSID for the network
FakeAP
Black Alchemy's Fake AP generates thousands of counterfeit 802.11b access points. Hide in plain sight amongst Fake AP's cacophony of beacon frames. As part of a honeypot or as an instrument of your site security plan, Fake AP confuses Wardrivers, NetStumblers, Script Kiddies, and other undesirables
Genpmk
genpmk is used to precompute the hash files in a similar way to Rainbow tables is used to pre-hash passwords in Windows LANMan attacks. There is a slight difference however in WPA in that the SSID of the network is used as well as the WPA-PSK to "salt" the hash. This means that we need a different set of hashes for each and every unique SSID i.e. a set for "linksys" a set for "tsunami" etc
Hotspotter
Hotspotter passively monitors the network for probe request frames to identify the preferred networks of Windows XP clients, and will compare it to a supplied list of common hotspot network names. If the probed network name matches a common hotspot name, Hotspotter will act as an access point to allow the client to authenticate and associate. Once associated, Hotspotter can be configured to run a command, possibly a script to kick off a DHCP daemon and other scanning against the new victim
Karma
KARMA is a set of tools for assessing the security of wireless clients at multiple layers. Wireless sniffing tools discover clients and their preferred/trusted networks by passively listening for 802.11 Probe Request frames. From there, individual clients can be targetted by creating a Rogue AP for one of their probed networks (which they may join automatically) or using a custom driver that responds to services can then capture credentials or exploit client-side vulnerabilities on the host.
Kismet
Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic. Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting standard named networks, detecting (and given time, decloaking) hidden networks, and infering the presence of nonbeaconing networks via data traffic.
Wep_crack
WepAttack is a WLAN open source Linux tool for breaking 802.11 WEP keys. This tool is based on an active dictionary attack that tests millions of words to find the right key. Only one packet is required to start an attack.
Wep_decrypt
a program for decrypting captured 802.11 traffic that is protect with WEP traffic. It reads in a pcap capture file, such as that generated by prismdump, and outputs another pcap capture file with decrypted packets. By default it will read from stdin and ouput to stdout. The key to decrypt with can be specified as a string of hex characters, optionally seperated by spaces or colons, or as a text string. If a text string is specified, the actual keying material will be generated by the string in the (ad hoc) standard fashion used by many drivers.
WifiTap
Wifitap is a proof of concept for communication over WLAN networks using traffic injection. Wifitap allows direct communication with an associated station to a given access point directly, whilst not being associated ourselves or being handled by access point.
Monday, 22 May 2006
The Hidden Downside of Wireless Networking
Wi-Fi can cause big trouble--and you may not even know it. Here's how to keep the hackers at bay.
Going wireless offers a panoply of attractive benefits to school districts. Because you don't have to run cables to every classroom, it's cheaper to deploy a wireless network than an old-fashioned wired network. Wireless makes it more convenient for administrators, teachers and students to connect.
But there's a perilous downside: A wireless network is easier for hackers to break into. Without the proper security measures, going wireless means opening a gaping hole in your computer systems' defenses.
Worse, you may already have a wireless security problem-even if your technology staff hasn't deployed a single wireless access point. At many school districts, parents and teachers have installed unofficial Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to the school's existing wired network. (Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity," is the trade name for a family of wireless networking standards.) In so doing, they may have inadvertently compromised the school's network, and your district's IT staff may be none the wiser.
Rogue Hotspots
Charlie Garten, the former chief information officer for the Poway Unified School District in southern California, says his district's struggles with Wi-Fi security began as early as 2002. "We weren't surprised that there were ways to jump over our firewall using wireless," says Garten, who retired in 2005. "We were caught a little bit by surprise by the number of rogue access points that had been plugged in." In some cases, his staff would receive complaints about network slowdowns at a school; on investigating, they would find as many as 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that had been installed without the IT department's knowledge. "Well-meaning people wanted to get more access for the kids, but they didn't understand all the consequences of just throwing in a bunch of wireless access points," adds Garten.
In the Palo Alto (Calif.) Unified School District, the security holes introduced by rogue hotspots had a much more public and embarrassing effect. Located in the heart of tech-savvy Silicon Valley, Palo Alto's parent community includes many people who work for companies that supply Wi-Fi equipment. As a result, these parents brought wireless networking into their children's schools at a very early stage.
"We had open networks. When they were first installed, folks could sit in the parking lot if they wanted to get some access," says Marie Scigliano, the director of technology for the district. Scigliano's staff was aware of the security problem but hadn't been able to address it completely when, in the summer of 2003, a local reporter found that she could access the district office's network through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Worse, the reporter was able to log on to the student information system and download students' grades, phone numbers, home addresses, medical information, psychological evaluations and even full-color photos.
The district quickly took the network offline and began correcting the problem, according to Scigliano. "We came back up with secure networks, logons, authentication and so forth," she says. However, the story received wide national coverage-thanks in part to the severity of the breach-causing a significant public relations problem for the school.
While the reporter didn't publish or alter student records, press reports noted that it would have been easy for her to do so, if she had been a more malicious hacker. That in turn would have exposed the district to serious liability problems and could possibly have put its students in danger.
Steps for Safer Wi-Fi Wireless doesn't have to be a security nightmare. Here are some tips from Brian Hernacki, an architect with Symantec Research Labs, on how you can keep your Wi-Fi network safe and sound: Turn on encryption Set your network to use Wired Equivalent Privacy or even stronger Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption, which encodes every transmission on the network, making it harder for hackers to "sniff" the data as it goes by. Neither form of encryption will keep hackers out entirely, but they set the bar a lot higher. If you use WEP, make sure you use a 128-bit key, which requires a 26-character pass phrase. WPA is harder to crack and uses easier-to-remember passwords for access, so it's a better choice if your equipment supports it. Limit access Wi-Fi networks can be configured to accept connections only from certain computers, using those computers' Media Access Control addresses, a unique number that's attached to the network adapter in every piece of networked equipment. MAC addresses are difficult to spoof, so limiting access to certain MAC addresses helps you ensure that you control who's on your network.
On the down side, you need to maintain an up-to-date list of permitted machines. Require usernames and passwords Configure your network so that users can gain access only with the proper username and password. If you issue unique usernames to each student, teacher and administrator, you'll be able to track any misuse of the system. Because people may share passwords with each other, be sure to change these every month or every quarter. Keep the network inside By carefully locating Wi-Fi routers and using directional antennas (which focus the signal in a particular direction), you may be able to limit the accessibility of your network outside school grounds. This will make it harder for hackers to do their dirty work unobserved. Turn it off at night Turning off the Wi-Fi network after-hours means that hackers will need to make their intrusion attempts during the day, when they're more likely to be noticed by staff or students. Educate your staff Make sure teachers and administrators are aware of the security risks of using Wi-Fi. For the maximum security, permit access to student information systems (such as grades databases) via wired networks only, and ensure that computers connecting to these systems do not also have Wi-Fi capability.
Going wireless offers a panoply of attractive benefits to school districts. Because you don't have to run cables to every classroom, it's cheaper to deploy a wireless network than an old-fashioned wired network. Wireless makes it more convenient for administrators, teachers and students to connect.
But there's a perilous downside: A wireless network is easier for hackers to break into. Without the proper security measures, going wireless means opening a gaping hole in your computer systems' defenses.
Worse, you may already have a wireless security problem-even if your technology staff hasn't deployed a single wireless access point. At many school districts, parents and teachers have installed unofficial Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to the school's existing wired network. (Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity," is the trade name for a family of wireless networking standards.) In so doing, they may have inadvertently compromised the school's network, and your district's IT staff may be none the wiser.
Rogue Hotspots
Charlie Garten, the former chief information officer for the Poway Unified School District in southern California, says his district's struggles with Wi-Fi security began as early as 2002. "We weren't surprised that there were ways to jump over our firewall using wireless," says Garten, who retired in 2005. "We were caught a little bit by surprise by the number of rogue access points that had been plugged in." In some cases, his staff would receive complaints about network slowdowns at a school; on investigating, they would find as many as 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that had been installed without the IT department's knowledge. "Well-meaning people wanted to get more access for the kids, but they didn't understand all the consequences of just throwing in a bunch of wireless access points," adds Garten.
In the Palo Alto (Calif.) Unified School District, the security holes introduced by rogue hotspots had a much more public and embarrassing effect. Located in the heart of tech-savvy Silicon Valley, Palo Alto's parent community includes many people who work for companies that supply Wi-Fi equipment. As a result, these parents brought wireless networking into their children's schools at a very early stage.
"We had open networks. When they were first installed, folks could sit in the parking lot if they wanted to get some access," says Marie Scigliano, the director of technology for the district. Scigliano's staff was aware of the security problem but hadn't been able to address it completely when, in the summer of 2003, a local reporter found that she could access the district office's network through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Worse, the reporter was able to log on to the student information system and download students' grades, phone numbers, home addresses, medical information, psychological evaluations and even full-color photos.
The district quickly took the network offline and began correcting the problem, according to Scigliano. "We came back up with secure networks, logons, authentication and so forth," she says. However, the story received wide national coverage-thanks in part to the severity of the breach-causing a significant public relations problem for the school.
While the reporter didn't publish or alter student records, press reports noted that it would have been easy for her to do so, if she had been a more malicious hacker. That in turn would have exposed the district to serious liability problems and could possibly have put its students in danger.
Steps for Safer Wi-Fi Wireless doesn't have to be a security nightmare. Here are some tips from Brian Hernacki, an architect with Symantec Research Labs, on how you can keep your Wi-Fi network safe and sound: Turn on encryption Set your network to use Wired Equivalent Privacy or even stronger Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption, which encodes every transmission on the network, making it harder for hackers to "sniff" the data as it goes by. Neither form of encryption will keep hackers out entirely, but they set the bar a lot higher. If you use WEP, make sure you use a 128-bit key, which requires a 26-character pass phrase. WPA is harder to crack and uses easier-to-remember passwords for access, so it's a better choice if your equipment supports it. Limit access Wi-Fi networks can be configured to accept connections only from certain computers, using those computers' Media Access Control addresses, a unique number that's attached to the network adapter in every piece of networked equipment. MAC addresses are difficult to spoof, so limiting access to certain MAC addresses helps you ensure that you control who's on your network.
On the down side, you need to maintain an up-to-date list of permitted machines. Require usernames and passwords Configure your network so that users can gain access only with the proper username and password. If you issue unique usernames to each student, teacher and administrator, you'll be able to track any misuse of the system. Because people may share passwords with each other, be sure to change these every month or every quarter. Keep the network inside By carefully locating Wi-Fi routers and using directional antennas (which focus the signal in a particular direction), you may be able to limit the accessibility of your network outside school grounds. This will make it harder for hackers to do their dirty work unobserved. Turn it off at night Turning off the Wi-Fi network after-hours means that hackers will need to make their intrusion attempts during the day, when they're more likely to be noticed by staff or students. Educate your staff Make sure teachers and administrators are aware of the security risks of using Wi-Fi. For the maximum security, permit access to student information systems (such as grades databases) via wired networks only, and ensure that computers connecting to these systems do not also have Wi-Fi capability.
The Hidden Downside of Wireless Networking
Wi-Fi can cause big trouble--and you may not even know it. Here's how to keep the hackers at bay.
Going wireless offers a panoply of attractive benefits to school districts. Because you don't have to run cables to every classroom, it's cheaper to deploy a wireless network than an old-fashioned wired network. Wireless makes it more convenient for administrators, teachers and students to connect.
But there's a perilous downside: A wireless network is easier for hackers to break into. Without the proper security measures, going wireless means opening a gaping hole in your computer systems' defenses.
Worse, you may already have a wireless security problem-even if your technology staff hasn't deployed a single wireless access point. At many school districts, parents and teachers have installed unofficial Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to the school's existing wired network. (Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity," is the trade name for a family of wireless networking standards.) In so doing, they may have inadvertently compromised the school's network, and your district's IT staff may be none the wiser.
Rogue Hotspots
Charlie Garten, the former chief information officer for the Poway Unified School District in southern California, says his district's struggles with Wi-Fi security began as early as 2002. "We weren't surprised that there were ways to jump over our firewall using wireless," says Garten, who retired in 2005. "We were caught a little bit by surprise by the number of rogue access points that had been plugged in." In some cases, his staff would receive complaints about network slowdowns at a school; on investigating, they would find as many as 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that had been installed without the IT department's knowledge. "Well-meaning people wanted to get more access for the kids, but they didn't understand all the consequences of just throwing in a bunch of wireless access points," adds Garten.
In the Palo Alto (Calif.) Unified School District, the security holes introduced by rogue hotspots had a much more public and embarrassing effect. Located in the heart of tech-savvy Silicon Valley, Palo Alto's parent community includes many people who work for companies that supply Wi-Fi equipment. As a result, these parents brought wireless networking into their children's schools at a very early stage.
"We had open networks. When they were first installed, folks could sit in the parking lot if they wanted to get some access," says Marie Scigliano, the director of technology for the district. Scigliano's staff was aware of the security problem but hadn't been able to address it completely when, in the summer of 2003, a local reporter found that she could access the district office's network through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Worse, the reporter was able to log on to the student information system and download students' grades, phone numbers, home addresses, medical information, psychological evaluations and even full-color photos.
The district quickly took the network offline and began correcting the problem, according to Scigliano. "We came back up with secure networks, logons, authentication and so forth," she says. However, the story received wide national coverage-thanks in part to the severity of the breach-causing a significant public relations problem for the school.
While the reporter didn't publish or alter student records, press reports noted that it would have been easy for her to do so, if she had been a more malicious hacker. That in turn would have exposed the district to serious liability problems and could possibly have put its students in danger.
Steps for Safer Wi-Fi Wireless doesn't have to be a security nightmare. Here are some tips from Brian Hernacki, an architect with Symantec Research Labs, on how you can keep your Wi-Fi network safe and sound: Turn on encryption Set your network to use Wired Equivalent Privacy or even stronger Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption, which encodes every transmission on the network, making it harder for hackers to "sniff" the data as it goes by. Neither form of encryption will keep hackers out entirely, but they set the bar a lot higher. If you use WEP, make sure you use a 128-bit key, which requires a 26-character pass phrase. WPA is harder to crack and uses easier-to-remember passwords for access, so it's a better choice if your equipment supports it. Limit access Wi-Fi networks can be configured to accept connections only from certain computers, using those computers' Media Access Control addresses, a unique number that's attached to the network adapter in every piece of networked equipment. MAC addresses are difficult to spoof, so limiting access to certain MAC addresses helps you ensure that you control who's on your network.
On the down side, you need to maintain an up-to-date list of permitted machines. Require usernames and passwords Configure your network so that users can gain access only with the proper username and password. If you issue unique usernames to each student, teacher and administrator, you'll be able to track any misuse of the system. Because people may share passwords with each other, be sure to change these every month or every quarter. Keep the network inside By carefully locating Wi-Fi routers and using directional antennas (which focus the signal in a particular direction), you may be able to limit the accessibility of your network outside school grounds. This will make it harder for hackers to do their dirty work unobserved. Turn it off at night Turning off the Wi-Fi network after-hours means that hackers will need to make their intrusion attempts during the day, when they're more likely to be noticed by staff or students. Educate your staff Make sure teachers and administrators are aware of the security risks of using Wi-Fi. For the maximum security, permit access to student information systems (such as grades databases) via wired networks only, and ensure that computers connecting to these systems do not also have Wi-Fi capability.
Going wireless offers a panoply of attractive benefits to school districts. Because you don't have to run cables to every classroom, it's cheaper to deploy a wireless network than an old-fashioned wired network. Wireless makes it more convenient for administrators, teachers and students to connect.
But there's a perilous downside: A wireless network is easier for hackers to break into. Without the proper security measures, going wireless means opening a gaping hole in your computer systems' defenses.
Worse, you may already have a wireless security problem-even if your technology staff hasn't deployed a single wireless access point. At many school districts, parents and teachers have installed unofficial Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to the school's existing wired network. (Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity," is the trade name for a family of wireless networking standards.) In so doing, they may have inadvertently compromised the school's network, and your district's IT staff may be none the wiser.
Rogue Hotspots
Charlie Garten, the former chief information officer for the Poway Unified School District in southern California, says his district's struggles with Wi-Fi security began as early as 2002. "We weren't surprised that there were ways to jump over our firewall using wireless," says Garten, who retired in 2005. "We were caught a little bit by surprise by the number of rogue access points that had been plugged in." In some cases, his staff would receive complaints about network slowdowns at a school; on investigating, they would find as many as 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that had been installed without the IT department's knowledge. "Well-meaning people wanted to get more access for the kids, but they didn't understand all the consequences of just throwing in a bunch of wireless access points," adds Garten.
In the Palo Alto (Calif.) Unified School District, the security holes introduced by rogue hotspots had a much more public and embarrassing effect. Located in the heart of tech-savvy Silicon Valley, Palo Alto's parent community includes many people who work for companies that supply Wi-Fi equipment. As a result, these parents brought wireless networking into their children's schools at a very early stage.
"We had open networks. When they were first installed, folks could sit in the parking lot if they wanted to get some access," says Marie Scigliano, the director of technology for the district. Scigliano's staff was aware of the security problem but hadn't been able to address it completely when, in the summer of 2003, a local reporter found that she could access the district office's network through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Worse, the reporter was able to log on to the student information system and download students' grades, phone numbers, home addresses, medical information, psychological evaluations and even full-color photos.
The district quickly took the network offline and began correcting the problem, according to Scigliano. "We came back up with secure networks, logons, authentication and so forth," she says. However, the story received wide national coverage-thanks in part to the severity of the breach-causing a significant public relations problem for the school.
While the reporter didn't publish or alter student records, press reports noted that it would have been easy for her to do so, if she had been a more malicious hacker. That in turn would have exposed the district to serious liability problems and could possibly have put its students in danger.
Steps for Safer Wi-Fi Wireless doesn't have to be a security nightmare. Here are some tips from Brian Hernacki, an architect with Symantec Research Labs, on how you can keep your Wi-Fi network safe and sound: Turn on encryption Set your network to use Wired Equivalent Privacy or even stronger Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption, which encodes every transmission on the network, making it harder for hackers to "sniff" the data as it goes by. Neither form of encryption will keep hackers out entirely, but they set the bar a lot higher. If you use WEP, make sure you use a 128-bit key, which requires a 26-character pass phrase. WPA is harder to crack and uses easier-to-remember passwords for access, so it's a better choice if your equipment supports it. Limit access Wi-Fi networks can be configured to accept connections only from certain computers, using those computers' Media Access Control addresses, a unique number that's attached to the network adapter in every piece of networked equipment. MAC addresses are difficult to spoof, so limiting access to certain MAC addresses helps you ensure that you control who's on your network.
On the down side, you need to maintain an up-to-date list of permitted machines. Require usernames and passwords Configure your network so that users can gain access only with the proper username and password. If you issue unique usernames to each student, teacher and administrator, you'll be able to track any misuse of the system. Because people may share passwords with each other, be sure to change these every month or every quarter. Keep the network inside By carefully locating Wi-Fi routers and using directional antennas (which focus the signal in a particular direction), you may be able to limit the accessibility of your network outside school grounds. This will make it harder for hackers to do their dirty work unobserved. Turn it off at night Turning off the Wi-Fi network after-hours means that hackers will need to make their intrusion attempts during the day, when they're more likely to be noticed by staff or students. Educate your staff Make sure teachers and administrators are aware of the security risks of using Wi-Fi. For the maximum security, permit access to student information systems (such as grades databases) via wired networks only, and ensure that computers connecting to these systems do not also have Wi-Fi capability.
The Hidden Downside of Wireless Networking
Wi-Fi can cause big trouble--and you may not even know it. Here's how to keep the hackers at bay.
Going wireless offers a panoply of attractive benefits to school districts. Because you don't have to run cables to every classroom, it's cheaper to deploy a wireless network than an old-fashioned wired network. Wireless makes it more convenient for administrators, teachers and students to connect.
But there's a perilous downside: A wireless network is easier for hackers to break into. Without the proper security measures, going wireless means opening a gaping hole in your computer systems' defenses.
Worse, you may already have a wireless security problem-even if your technology staff hasn't deployed a single wireless access point. At many school districts, parents and teachers have installed unofficial Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to the school's existing wired network. (Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity," is the trade name for a family of wireless networking standards.) In so doing, they may have inadvertently compromised the school's network, and your district's IT staff may be none the wiser.
Rogue Hotspots
Charlie Garten, the former chief information officer for the Poway Unified School District in southern California, says his district's struggles with Wi-Fi security began as early as 2002. "We weren't surprised that there were ways to jump over our firewall using wireless," says Garten, who retired in 2005. "We were caught a little bit by surprise by the number of rogue access points that had been plugged in." In some cases, his staff would receive complaints about network slowdowns at a school; on investigating, they would find as many as 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that had been installed without the IT department's knowledge. "Well-meaning people wanted to get more access for the kids, but they didn't understand all the consequences of just throwing in a bunch of wireless access points," adds Garten.
In the Palo Alto (Calif.) Unified School District, the security holes introduced by rogue hotspots had a much more public and embarrassing effect. Located in the heart of tech-savvy Silicon Valley, Palo Alto's parent community includes many people who work for companies that supply Wi-Fi equipment. As a result, these parents brought wireless networking into their children's schools at a very early stage.
"We had open networks. When they were first installed, folks could sit in the parking lot if they wanted to get some access," says Marie Scigliano, the director of technology for the district. Scigliano's staff was aware of the security problem but hadn't been able to address it completely when, in the summer of 2003, a local reporter found that she could access the district office's network through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Worse, the reporter was able to log on to the student information system and download students' grades, phone numbers, home addresses, medical information, psychological evaluations and even full-color photos.
The district quickly took the network offline and began correcting the problem, according to Scigliano. "We came back up with secure networks, logons, authentication and so forth," she says. However, the story received wide national coverage-thanks in part to the severity of the breach-causing a significant public relations problem for the school.
While the reporter didn't publish or alter student records, press reports noted that it would have been easy for her to do so, if she had been a more malicious hacker. That in turn would have exposed the district to serious liability problems and could possibly have put its students in danger.
Steps for Safer Wi-Fi Wireless doesn't have to be a security nightmare. Here are some tips from Brian Hernacki, an architect with Symantec Research Labs, on how you can keep your Wi-Fi network safe and sound: Turn on encryption Set your network to use Wired Equivalent Privacy or even stronger Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption, which encodes every transmission on the network, making it harder for hackers to "sniff" the data as it goes by. Neither form of encryption will keep hackers out entirely, but they set the bar a lot higher. If you use WEP, make sure you use a 128-bit key, which requires a 26-character pass phrase. WPA is harder to crack and uses easier-to-remember passwords for access, so it's a better choice if your equipment supports it. Limit access Wi-Fi networks can be configured to accept connections only from certain computers, using those computers' Media Access Control addresses, a unique number that's attached to the network adapter in every piece of networked equipment. MAC addresses are difficult to spoof, so limiting access to certain MAC addresses helps you ensure that you control who's on your network.
On the down side, you need to maintain an up-to-date list of permitted machines. Require usernames and passwords Configure your network so that users can gain access only with the proper username and password. If you issue unique usernames to each student, teacher and administrator, you'll be able to track any misuse of the system. Because people may share passwords with each other, be sure to change these every month or every quarter. Keep the network inside By carefully locating Wi-Fi routers and using directional antennas (which focus the signal in a particular direction), you may be able to limit the accessibility of your network outside school grounds. This will make it harder for hackers to do their dirty work unobserved. Turn it off at night Turning off the Wi-Fi network after-hours means that hackers will need to make their intrusion attempts during the day, when they're more likely to be noticed by staff or students. Educate your staff Make sure teachers and administrators are aware of the security risks of using Wi-Fi. For the maximum security, permit access to student information systems (such as grades databases) via wired networks only, and ensure that computers connecting to these systems do not also have Wi-Fi capability.
Going wireless offers a panoply of attractive benefits to school districts. Because you don't have to run cables to every classroom, it's cheaper to deploy a wireless network than an old-fashioned wired network. Wireless makes it more convenient for administrators, teachers and students to connect.
But there's a perilous downside: A wireless network is easier for hackers to break into. Without the proper security measures, going wireless means opening a gaping hole in your computer systems' defenses.
Worse, you may already have a wireless security problem-even if your technology staff hasn't deployed a single wireless access point. At many school districts, parents and teachers have installed unofficial Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to the school's existing wired network. (Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity," is the trade name for a family of wireless networking standards.) In so doing, they may have inadvertently compromised the school's network, and your district's IT staff may be none the wiser.
Rogue Hotspots
Charlie Garten, the former chief information officer for the Poway Unified School District in southern California, says his district's struggles with Wi-Fi security began as early as 2002. "We weren't surprised that there were ways to jump over our firewall using wireless," says Garten, who retired in 2005. "We were caught a little bit by surprise by the number of rogue access points that had been plugged in." In some cases, his staff would receive complaints about network slowdowns at a school; on investigating, they would find as many as 10 Wi-Fi hotspots that had been installed without the IT department's knowledge. "Well-meaning people wanted to get more access for the kids, but they didn't understand all the consequences of just throwing in a bunch of wireless access points," adds Garten.
In the Palo Alto (Calif.) Unified School District, the security holes introduced by rogue hotspots had a much more public and embarrassing effect. Located in the heart of tech-savvy Silicon Valley, Palo Alto's parent community includes many people who work for companies that supply Wi-Fi equipment. As a result, these parents brought wireless networking into their children's schools at a very early stage.
"We had open networks. When they were first installed, folks could sit in the parking lot if they wanted to get some access," says Marie Scigliano, the director of technology for the district. Scigliano's staff was aware of the security problem but hadn't been able to address it completely when, in the summer of 2003, a local reporter found that she could access the district office's network through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Worse, the reporter was able to log on to the student information system and download students' grades, phone numbers, home addresses, medical information, psychological evaluations and even full-color photos.
The district quickly took the network offline and began correcting the problem, according to Scigliano. "We came back up with secure networks, logons, authentication and so forth," she says. However, the story received wide national coverage-thanks in part to the severity of the breach-causing a significant public relations problem for the school.
While the reporter didn't publish or alter student records, press reports noted that it would have been easy for her to do so, if she had been a more malicious hacker. That in turn would have exposed the district to serious liability problems and could possibly have put its students in danger.
Steps for Safer Wi-Fi Wireless doesn't have to be a security nightmare. Here are some tips from Brian Hernacki, an architect with Symantec Research Labs, on how you can keep your Wi-Fi network safe and sound: Turn on encryption Set your network to use Wired Equivalent Privacy or even stronger Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption, which encodes every transmission on the network, making it harder for hackers to "sniff" the data as it goes by. Neither form of encryption will keep hackers out entirely, but they set the bar a lot higher. If you use WEP, make sure you use a 128-bit key, which requires a 26-character pass phrase. WPA is harder to crack and uses easier-to-remember passwords for access, so it's a better choice if your equipment supports it. Limit access Wi-Fi networks can be configured to accept connections only from certain computers, using those computers' Media Access Control addresses, a unique number that's attached to the network adapter in every piece of networked equipment. MAC addresses are difficult to spoof, so limiting access to certain MAC addresses helps you ensure that you control who's on your network.
On the down side, you need to maintain an up-to-date list of permitted machines. Require usernames and passwords Configure your network so that users can gain access only with the proper username and password. If you issue unique usernames to each student, teacher and administrator, you'll be able to track any misuse of the system. Because people may share passwords with each other, be sure to change these every month or every quarter. Keep the network inside By carefully locating Wi-Fi routers and using directional antennas (which focus the signal in a particular direction), you may be able to limit the accessibility of your network outside school grounds. This will make it harder for hackers to do their dirty work unobserved. Turn it off at night Turning off the Wi-Fi network after-hours means that hackers will need to make their intrusion attempts during the day, when they're more likely to be noticed by staff or students. Educate your staff Make sure teachers and administrators are aware of the security risks of using Wi-Fi. For the maximum security, permit access to student information systems (such as grades databases) via wired networks only, and ensure that computers connecting to these systems do not also have Wi-Fi capability.
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