Customer Reviews

Real 802.11 Security: Wi-Fi Protected Access and 802.11i

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the fourth book on 802.11 I have read in 8 weeks and for an important reason. The company I work for is moving more and more to wireless to provide connectivity to our customers.

In terms of understanding architecture, and the cryptography behind the security protocols this was my favorite book. My favorite chapter was the how WEP works and why it doesn't. The writing was clear and the explanations were accurate. I also loved chapter 15, that equipped me to explain why wireless networks are dangerous beasts with detail.

It is a tougher read than some of the other books on the subject, the good news is that you understand the cryptography, the bad news is you have to work through the pages with the crytography.

This is a good book and it is well worth the price. Why did I give it 4 stars instead of 5? It could improve in a couple areas. I think it would have been a stronger, more focused work without chapters 2, 3, and 4. Any reader that is willing to wade through the inner workings of TLS, TKIP or WPA doesn't need a security overview. Also, I really wish more effort had been put into chapter 14, Public Wireless Hotspots. It is good, it covers the fundamentals, but I finished the chapter without increasing my understanding of a question every reader of the book will have. Do I dare check my (encrypted) email at a Starbucks or airport hot spot? That said, I think with second edition the authors will have every chance to take the lead in the crowded field of 802.11 books.

This is a very advanced book, not for the meek at heart. Exceptionally well written with five pages of references, three pages of acronyms and three appendices: AES encryption / block cipher, message modification and file integrity. The authors spare no details about wireless security, yet are still able to make thing easy to understand. Written from an engineering standpoint with emphasis on design and construction of wireless networks, Real 802.11 Security gets down to the nuts and bolts of how wireless works, the current standards now in use and the design implications of the newest standards in development.

Edney and Arbaugh show just how "loose" current wireless systems really are, their vulnerabilities and the most common attack methods used, including man in the middle, WEP cracking and MAC spoofing. They detail the layers of transmittion and how those layers interact in the most common wireless scenarios. They also define the terms and uses of current wireless security including the latest methods under development.

The authors start by making sense of the alphabet soup of wireless security including WEP, RSN, 802.1x, LEAP, PEAP and Radius. They dig down to the actual tools and processes used to hack wireless networks and give excellent summaries of the most commonly used methods. Their examples detail the uses of headers, their encryption and the algorithms used by each security protocol. They then show how each protocol is broken down, how server and client interact and the security holes present.

After a good overview of the current landscape, Edney and Arbaugh go on to show the reader how each protocol stacks up against one another, thus allowing the reader greater flexibility to decide just which type or types of security maybe right for their wireless environment(s). They also give very good examples of the problems inherent to communication and authentication in highly mobile, fast paced environments. The authors go into the details and difficulties of how to strengthen wireless networks thru the understanding and use of algorithms, hardware authentication and transport layer security.

Edney and Arbaugh finalize their book by showing how the protocols are applied and the details of implementing Wi-Fi security in day-to-day actual situations. They use screen shots of actual tools in use making it easier for the novice radio buff to understand the whole process. Any white hat will enjoy the final chapter as the authors proceed to show details on how to craft your own client and server side certificates, construct and harden a RADIUS server using open source software and plan your network.

A must read for all IT professionals running wireless in any sensitive environment. As a learning experience Real 802.11 Security should not be taken lightly by any professional currently designing and implementing wireless solutions.

The book was a fairly easy read. It covered the basics of wireless security starting from the ground and working up. It was organized well so that if a section was already familiar you could simply jump forward. There is the occasional section where the theory starts to get a little deep, but they warn you and instruct you to skip over the section if it is of no interest.

This was my first book on wireless security and will provide a good basis to move forward to vendor specific security and eventual certification. A great place to start with enough depth to provide a learning opportunity for the more experienced.

The material you need to know to secure wireless LANs is definitely not easy to learn. However, with this book, the authors explain the concepts in a clear and simple matter. Yes, it was actually fun reading about how encryption and the security suites can protect WLANs. Reading this book answered all the questions I had about the new 802.11i and WPA which are replacing the broken WEP. I highly recommend this book to everyone who owns and operates an access point including beginners at home and experts in the enterprise.

This is the most comprehensive book on the issues of 802.11 security I have found to date. Most books simply reiterate the basics of wireless security architecture and then spend a chapter or two on the hacking tools for locating networks and defeating WEP. Edney and Arbaugh start with the basic insecurities, and then build on the explanation layer after layer from the overview to the cryptography and its implementation. You as the reader decide how deep your understanding needs to go.

This book covers WEP, WPA and 802.11i in detail. As its title suggests, it is focused on the issues of security so don't expect a general treatment of Wireless Architecture in addition. This is the most definitive book I have seen about the exposures of the security mechanisms themselves, but you will need a volume that covers site survey and architecture to appreciate all of the issues involved in 802.11 I found chapter on Security Principals especially accessible reading for those new to the Infosec field.

This book is truly one of the first comprehensive books to address the topic of Wi-Fi and security implementation. Where other books stop short with explanations that solely focus on WEP encryption, this book marches right on. Not only do the authors fully explain WEP and the RC4 algorithm and the inherent insecurity of WEP, but they provide an overview of encryption and security that is extremely easy to follow. Packed with diagrams, illustrations, and useful references, this book explains WPA encryption just being ushered into use on wireless access points. The information this book passes on is extremely timely and worth paying attention to given the potential threats lurking about the Internet and wardriving down your street.

The information contained in this book can be used by not only the small office/home office person, but by the corporate IT staff as well. While you may need to have knowledge of Wi-Fi networks to truly appreciate this book, it does have the potential to reach a wider audience.

Furthermore, the authors have taken great measures to ensure that this book will not become outdated in the next few months. Instead of discussing WEP and WPA and then stopping, the authors discuss the implementation and security of the AES algorithm in the technical specifications for 802.11i. Herein lies the strength and worth of this book. Its pictures, examples, attacks, and security measures will continue to be relevant as 802.11i gets ratified in the next 16 months. Thus, this book will continue to teach and inform others of the security legacy of Wi-Fi networks.

I was somewhat hesitant to read "Real 802.11 Security" (R8S) as it seemed to offer too much theory and background on wireless security. I prefer "getting to the point" and telling me what works and what doesn't. R8S changed my mind. The book's lively style helped me survive fairly heavy discussion of cryptography and implementation of security protocols. The authors remarkable clarity and insights reminded me of Ross Anderson's "Security Engineering," a book I respect highly. I finished R8S with a better idea of the future of wireless security and how to secure existing wireless deployments.

The book contains three major parts. The first part gives background of wireless technology and explains why WEP is broken. The next major section discusses the future of wireless security, 802.11i, with the "Robust Security Network" (RSN) as the ultimate goal and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) as a subset option for the present. 802.1x port-based access control is covered along with TKIP or AES-CCMP. The authors help readers understand how dial-up or wired technologies like RADIUS have been extended to support 802.11i. The final part of the book talks about attacks and concludes with an open-source implementation of a wireless access point, FreeRADIUS, and other elements.

R8S may in parts appear to be a book for designers (as the authors claim on p. 245) but implementers will find it useful. The authors have great teaching skills and offer useful analogies to explain the inner workings of wireless security. At times I felt the authors sounded a bit like "sheltered academics," stating on page 25 "in reality, attacking for profit is probably not that common." (They haven't dealt with organized crime on the Internet, I guess!) Their mention of "ego attackers" as the top of the intruder food chain seemed naive as well. Nevertheless, this outlook didn't affect the authors' ability to deliver solid security information.

This book could be considered the definitive guide to the future of wireless security. This isn't a book on how to break into wireless networks. It's about how wireless security failed in the past and what has been done to address those shortcomings. If you really want the scoop on 802.11i, give R8S a shot.

This book covers many major protocols. It provides background requirements to each of those protocols (this is important for understanding the big picture of 802.11 networking - otherwise you would be left with puzzle pieces of information).

The author creates a lucid description of the flaws of WEP encryption. I have read many websites and lesser books about the flaws of WEP. Now I finally understand those flaws.
That chapter, Chapter 6 How 802.11 Works and Why It Doesn't, is akin to J.R.R. Tolkiens chapter on the mines of Moria. Both use verbiage and flow that take the reader upon a journey. Wherein the reader and the book become one united thinking entity. It removes the reader's presence without moving the reader and upon return the reader know's it has been there).

This book isn't only about WEP. It covers [probably] every protocol, vulnerability, of 802.11 and rounds it out with some misc stuff in Part III (see TOC for listing).

Well written. This book actually is not a stuggle to read. (though I have only read chapters 3-9 and skimmed chapters 1-2). I even enjoy reading it before going to sleep. This goes back to the title of my review. Good balance of general overview and detailed technical information. Or better yet, a good buildup of general overview then followed by a detailed technical description of the topic.

I would recommend for intermediate to expert networking folks (devs, testers, project mgrs, admins).

Edney tackles quite a broad topic, but does well with remaining focused and developing the topic from a novice understanding of wireless security to in-depth discussions down to the packet level. With the range of the topic, the book could have easily been written *only* for the novice or specifially for the computer professional, but Edney manages to hit both audiences; not a small feat when writing a computer-related book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding why wi-fi networks are vulnerable (more so than traditional wired networks) and in learning more about wi-fi security solutions.

Hello,

I am reading this book and it is helping me a lot with my certification towards the CWNA, the material is very good, explanations are clear and the author has a very easy way to control the reader and explain the things that are sometimes hard to see. This book is a very good reading, i would suggest for whoever is starting on Security to read it, it even makes some humoristics comments during the book. Awesome, 5 stars material !
thanks a lot,