How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN [Paperback]

Lee Barken (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131402064 | ISBN-13: 978-0131402065 | Publication Date: September 5, 2003 | Edition: 1

The results of a new study from IDC offer a strong thumbs-up to the fast-evolving information security services sector, predicting that the market for such services will increase to more than $23.5 billion in the next four years. Demand for security for wireless networks will drive the growth of the information security services market. Announcements by major companies (i.e. Intel, Dell, Gateway, IBM) backing wireless technologies are setting the stage for wide-scale deployments and the ushering in a new era of wireless freedom.The bottom line is that wireless is here to stay. The integration of 802.11 into almost all new laptops, coupled with the explosion in availability of public hotspots has created a cycle of large scale wireless proliferation. This invisible, yet inescapable flood of radio waves has landed squarely in our homes and businesses where it presents a new security challenge. How do we embrace the joys of wireless networks while we maintain an essential balance with the security needs of our organization? This book is all about understanding the technology, recognizing the security risks, and implementing a responsible and realistic game plan for safe and secure wireless communication.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Now you can have the awesome benefits of wireless LANswithout falling victim to their notorious security flaws. Leadingwireless security expert Lee Barken shows you practicalworkarounds and fixes for the vulnerabilities in today'sWLANs, introduces high-security wireless protocols new to themarketplace, and offers step-by-step instructions for protectingall your wireless information, from the home to the enterprise.This is the definitive and easy-to-use WLAN security book you'vebeen searching for--whether you're a network administrator,security specialist, manager, or home user.

Topics covered include--

• Why conventional wireless LANs are so insecure--and what you can do about it
• "Wardriving" software, equipment, and techniques: knowing your enemy
• 802.11i, WPA, TKIP, and AES: the new wireless security options
• 802.1x and EAP: enabling port-based authentication on your WLAN
• Safely connecting WLANs to wired networks
• Securing home and small office environments, one step at a time
• Accessing VPNs from wireless devices
• Integrating firewalls and wireless access points
• Improving security in public access environments
• Securing enterprise environments with 802.1x--a start-to-finish walkthrough

About the Author

About the Author

LEE BARKEN, CISSP, CCNA, MCP, CPA, has been in the IT industry since 1987. He has worked as anIT consultant and network security specialist for Ernst and Young's Information Technology RiskManagement (ITRM) practice and KPMG's Risk and Advisory Services (RAS) practice. He co-foundedthe San Diego Wireless Users Group and writes and speaks on the topic of wireless LANtechnology and security. He is the technical editor for Mobile Business Advisor Magazine, andteaches Wireless LAN Security and Deployment classes for the University of California at SanDiego (UCSD) extension.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (September 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131402064
• ISBN-13: 978-0131402065
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Even easy for beginners to understand!, October 23, 2003

By 

John L. Berger (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN (Paperback)

I have 24 network jacks in my house. I don't want to install another network jack ever. Wireless is the answer from this point. The biggest problem with wireless is evident: security.

This is one of numerous books on wireless security. Fortunately, it's a well done book that is not meant to be read by rocket scientists. You know those kinds of books: written by ego-centric techie-geeks who pad their books with technical jargon and useless scientific theory that only people at MIT could understand. Instead, this book is relatively easy to understand as long as you have some knowledge on wireless technology (beyond the fact that there are no wires involved).

One chapter that I found to be very interesting covers the concept of war driving, which is the equivalent of driving around to pick up wireless networks in a neighborhood. It also covers how war drivers leave chalk identification markers for other war drivers to know that a wireless network has been detected.

The book also adequately covers the various types of authentication and encryption that can be used help to secure a wireless network. Once again, the very technical details about how the packets are designed and how the handshaking takes place tends to be a bit dry to those without much technical experience.

Using Windows 2000 Server as the example, the book goes through all of the steps necessary (with a large number of screen shots) to implement a VPN as well as set up an authentication and certificate server for enterprises. Fortunately, the home user is not forgotten. An entire chapter is dedicated to securing and managing a home wireless network; however, all of the home security methods that are covered in this book are Linux-based. Of course, if you're concerned about security, why are you thinking of using Windows in the first place?

The appendices have a lot of background information on radio frequency and antennae types. But the really geeky appendix is how to make a functional wireless antenna out of a Pringles potato chip can.

Overall, this is a good book to have. Obviously, computer technology being what it is means that the book will be obsolete in relatively short order. However, the fact that this book doesn't adhere to the mindless Windows centricity of most books of this kind also helps to give it that little boost of extra value.

I also like this book because it does not have the "I have a master degree so I'm going to speak like I'm addressing only brilliant people so as to impress you and add pages to the book to make it seem more important than it is" attitude. Yes, you should to have a grasp of some of the concepts behind networking protocols to understand this; but the majority of the book is not a difficult read.

If you're thinking of implementing a wireless network, this is a good book to have at your side.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thin but full of good info, December 4, 2003

By 

Dr Anton Chuvakin "Dr. Anton Chuvakin" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN (Paperback)

Not being a wireless security expert, I liked this book for a concise intro to wireless technology as well as wireless security.

This relatively thin book provides balanced (in my opinion) coverage of attacks and defenses, enterprise and home. It deals well with high-level and low-level topics (such as various configuration settings). It also described both UNIX/Linux and Windows configuration options and solutions. For example, detailed guidelines for setting up a public hotspot with Linux are provided. The book mixes the wireless technology details with relevant security issues in a single coherent story. It is easy to read and well-written.

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Senior Security Analyst with a major information security company. His areas of infosec expertise include intrusion detection, UNIX security, forensics, honeypots, etc. In his spare time, he maintains his security portal info-secure.org

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perishable goods, but great reading now, September 25, 2003

By 

Stephen Northcutt (Kauai, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN (Paperback)

Congratulations to Lee and the Prentice Hall team, this is the clearest, most approachable material on wireless I have seen. The only reason I didn't give the book five stars is it will be functionally obsolete very soon. However at least for calendar year 2003, this is the best book on the subject, hands down.

The book explains wireless technology and the security problems that come with the ease of use. The wardriving chapter (how to audit your organization's wireless) is well done and then they discuss the range of security solutions. What more can you ask for?

Wireless is probably the most important IT security issue and managers and techies alike need to make every effort to keep abreast of the technology. This book is fluff free and will get you up to speed fast.