Developing a Systematic Process for Mobile Surveying and Analysis of WLAN security

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), familiarly known as Wi-Fi, is one of the most used wireless networking technologies. WLANs have rapidly grown in popularity since the release of the original IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard in 1997. We are using our beloved wireless internet connection for everything and are connecting more and more devices into our wireless networks in every form imaginable. As the number of wireless network devices keeps increasing, so does the importance of wireless network security. During its now over twenty-year life cycle, a multitude of various security measures and protocols have been introduced into WLAN connections to keep our wireless communication secure. The most notable security measures presented in the 802.11 standard have been the encryption protocols Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). Both encryption protocols have had their share of flaws and vulnerabilities, some of them so severe that the use of WEP and the first generation of the WPA protocol have been deemed irredeemably broken and unfit to be used for WLAN encryption. Even though the aforementioned encryption protocols have been long since deemed fatally broken and insecure, research shows that both can still be found in use today. The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is to develop a process for surveying wireless local area networks and to survey the current state of WLAN security in Finland. The goal has been to develop a WLAN surveying process that would at the same time be efficient, scalable, and easily replicable. The purpose of the survey is to determine to what extent are the deprecated encryption protocols used in Finland. Furthermore, we want to find out in what state is WLAN security currently in Finland by observing the use of other WLAN security practices. The survey process presented in this work is based on a WLAN scanning method called Wardriving. Despite its intimidating name, wardriving is simply a form of passive wireless network scanning. Passive wireless network scanning is used for collecting information about the surrounding wireless networks by listening to the messages broadcasted by wireless network devices. To collect our research data, we conducted wardriving surveys on three separate occasions between the spring of 2019 and early spring of 2020, in a typical medium-sized Finnish city. Our survey results show that 2.2% out of the located networks used insecure encryption protocols and 9.2% of the located networks did not use any encryption protocol. While the percentage of insecure networks is moderately low, we observed during our study that private consumers are reluctant to change the factory-set default settings of their wireless network devices, possibly exposing them to other security threats

Individuals perceptions of wireless security in the home environment

Research in 802.11 wireless networking has in the past focused predominantly on corporate wireless network use, or identifying the flaws in wireless security. This study was aimed to determine the individuals’ perceptions of wireless security in the home environment. 163 volunteers completed a survey on their perceptions, knowledge, experiences and attitudes towards wireless networking. The results of the survey indicated that there is little difference in knowledge between those who had worked in the IT industry, and those who did not. The sources of information used to configure wireless networks are not improving the knowledge respondents had on wireless security. Respondents are aware of the various benefits of wireless networking. However, respondents do not appear to know the correct authentication and encryption methods which have been implemented on their wireless product

Beyond swarm intelligence: The Ultraswarm

This paper explores the idea that it may be possible to combine two ideas – UAV flocking, and wireless cluster computing – in a single system, the UltraSwarm. The possible advantages of such a system are considered, and solutions to some of the technical problems are identified. Initial work on constructing such a system based around miniature electric helicopters is described

WIRELESS LAN IN UTP CAMPUS AREA

In the world nowadays, more and more organizations and learning institute are deploying the Wireless Local Area Network or WLAN to be used together or to replace with the wired LAN. WLAN is wireless networks between computers within one building or a group of buildings. The frequently used protocol in WLAN is the Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 standards. The objective of the project is to develop a conceptual design of a Wireless LAN for UTP campus area. The literature review and case study touch on what is WLAN and its pros such as mobility and the contras such as, the slow network speed and interference. The methodology or steps used to complete the project are project preliminary study, project requirements, project research and analysis, network design and development stage, and lastly the evaluation stage. Though WLAN has some of its downside, it is convenient because of mobility, lower cost to deploy and provide security to its user

An attitude and perception study of wireless network usage in home environments

Research on the use of 802.11 wireless networking and wireless security has in the past focused predominantly on corporations who generally have access to resources specifically allocated to computer and network security. Research has also focused on identifying the flaws in wireless network security, and developing stronger and safer methods which may be incorporated. To date there has been a lack of research into determining what the individual at home perceives towards wireless security. As broadband Internet connections are now predominantly chosen, the amount of available bandwidth open to exploitation is significantly higher than the now becoming obsolete dialup connection. The numerous researched yet unpublicised wireless network threats, is leaving an unaware individual vulnerable to various, easy to administer attacks which may result in identity theft or significant monetary loses. To develop solutions aimed at protecting the home individual utilising 802.11 wireless networks, information needs to be collected on what individuals already know and perceive. Hence the scope of this study was to analyse the attitudes and perceptions individuals have towards wireless security. Utilising a quantitative online survey instrument the study was directed to those who specifically had an Internet connection and had enabled an 802.11a\b\g standard wireless network. Over the course of 21 days the online survey instrument had been completed by 163 anonymous respondents who volunteered to complete the questionnaire consisting of 29 questions. The majority of respondents had utilised a broadband connection leaving a large amount of bandwidth available for exploitation. The results indicate that respondents are well aware of the basics of wireless networking. However, when confronted with specifics of wireless security (utilised authentication and encryption) their perception was not valid. The proactive behaviour respondents had towards wireless security varied and were dependant upon their level of concern and experience in wireless networking. There is little distinction between those respondents who had worked in the IT industry and those who have not. The results from the study confirm with similar studies undertaken on the topic of computer security, also looking at the level of knowledge respondents had. The sources used by respondents vary significantly, although the study did not find that a particular source made a significant contribution to a user\u27s perceived security

802.11 Wireless And Wireless Security

The purpose of this paper is to educate the wireless user or prospective wireless user regarding 802.11 wireless and wireless security.  This is achieved by a review of the literature.  Our review of the literature includes an overview of the most popular wireless standard, 802.11, some of the benefits of wireless networks, some of the vulnerabilities in wireless networks and some basic security recommendations specific to wireless networks.  In addition, the paper gives an overview of some future wireless protocols that are currently being worked on by the various standard developing bodies.

A Practical guide to understanding wireless networking concepts, security protocols, attack, and safer deployment schemes

With the explosion of wireless networks appearing in buildings, business and educational campuses, and even homes; security is a large concern in order to prevent attempted intrusions and malicious attacks from the retrieval of confidential data. Wireless Fidelity, Wi-Fi for short, does provide security in the form called Wired Equivalent Privacy otherwise simply known as WEP. However cases documenting WEP\u27s security mechanism being breached in legitimate and illegitimate cases have been published and are readily available on the Internet. While wireless networks provide the freedom of mobility for users, this also allows potential hackers to eavesdrop on unsuspecting wireless users. Or worse, one could potentially hijack an access point and gain unauthorized access past the wireless network and then into the wired internal network. Thus an intruder who has hijacked an access point will be able to access critical data while hiding safely outside the building. Knowledge and understanding of wireless networks and of its security is a necessary step to be learnt if wireless networks are to be deployed securely especially in congested urban settings

A Study of Wireless Network Security

I intend to make a survey in wireless data security since wireless networks are very common, both for organizations and individuals. Many laptop computers have wireless cards pre-installed. The ability to enter a wireless network has great benefits. However, wireless networking has many security issues. Hackers have found wireless networks relatively easy to break into, and even use wireless technology to crack into wired network. As a result, it\u27s very important that enterprises define effective wireless security policies that guard against unauthorized access to important resources. My survey research may involve these following aspects: wireless network architecture, data security in wireless networks, secure data storage in wireless networks and so forth