Question

Describe the attacks in wireless networks that are more serious com pared to wired network. What vulnerabilities does mobile devices introduced? What services are provided by 802.11i? What attacks are prevented by 802.11i?

Answer 1

• Packet Sniffing: When information is sent back and forth over a network, it is sent in what we call packets. Since wireless traffic is sent over the air, it’s very easy to capture. Quite a lot of traffic (FTP, HTTP, SNMP, ect.) is sent in the clear, meaning that there is no encryption and files are in plain text for anyone to read. So using a tool like Wireshark allows you to read data transfers in plain text! This can lead to stolen passwords or leaks of sensitive information quite easily. Encrypted data can be captured as well, but it’s obviously much harder for an attacker to decipher the encrypted data packets.

• Rouge Access Point: When an unauthorized access point (AP) appears on a network, it is refereed to as a rouge access point. These can pop up from an employee who doesn’t know better, or a person with ill intent. These APs represent a vulnerability to the network because they leave it open to a variety of attacks. These include vulnerability scans for attack preparation, ARP poisoning, packet captures, and Denial of Service attacks.
• Password Theft: When communicating over wireless networks, think of how often you log into a website. You send passwords out over the network, and if the site doesn’t use SSL or TLS, that password is sitting in plain text for an attacker to read. There are even ways to get around those encryption methods to steal the password. I’ll talk about this with man in the middle attacks.
• Man in the Middle Attack: It’s possible for hackers to trick communicating devices into sending their transmissions to the attacker’s system. Here they can record the traffic to view later (like in packet sniffing) and even change the contents of files. Various types of malware can be inserted into these packets, e-mail content could be changed, or the traffic could be dropped so that communication is blocked.
• Jamming: There are a number of ways to jam a wireless network. One method is flooding an AP with deauthentication frames. This effectively overwhelms the network and prevents legitimate transmissions from getting through. This attack is a little unusual because there probably isn’t anything in it for the hacker. One of the few examples of how this could benefit someone is through a business jamming their competitors WiFi signal. This is highly illegal (as are all these attacks), so businesses would tend to shy away from it. If they got caught they would be facing serious charges.
• War Driving: War driving comes from an old term called war dialing, where people would dial random phone numbers in search of modems. War driving is basically people driving around looking for vulnerable APs to attack. People will even use drones to try and hack APs on higher floors of a building. A company that owns multiple floors around ten stories up might assume nobody is even in range to hack their wireless, but there is no end to the creativity of hackers!
• Blueooth Attacks: There are a variety of Bluetooth exploits out there. These range from annoying pop up messages, to full control over the a victims Bluetooth enabled device.
• WEP/WPA Attacks: Attacks on wireless routers can be a huge problem. Older encryption standards are extremely vulnerable, and it’s pretty easy to gain the access code in this case. Once someones on your network, you’ve lost a significant layer of security. APs and routers are hiding your IP address from the broader Internet using Network Address Translation (unless you use IPv6 but that’s a topic for another day). This effectively hides your private IP address from those outside your subnet, and helps prevent outsiders from being able to directly attack you. The keyword there is that it helps prevent the attacks, but doesn’t stop it completely.

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