An Overview Of Wireless Security Issues

Wireless networking technology is quickly changing the way networked computers communicate. The convenience offered by the ability to connect to networks using mobile computing devices has also introduced many security issues that do not exist in the wired world. The security measures we have relied on in the past to secure our networks are now obsolete with this new technology. This paper introduces the 802.11 standard and the security issues surrounding it. How to discover and access Wireless LANs (WLANs) is discussed and a checklist that can be used in securing them is presented. Finally, security enhancements to the 802.11 standard such as VPNs, centralized authentication and dynamic key distribution are discussed. WLANs are indeed very useful, but the encryption and authentication methods specified in the 802.11 standard are flawed, leading to serious security issues. Applying the recommendations in the WLAN security checklist and deploying security enhancements such as VPNs, centralized authentication and dynamic key distribution to the WLAN architecture will help you overcome many of the flaws in the 802.11 standard.