Friday, September 13, 2013

DoS a possible threat to Wi-Fi networks

Quick Tip: DoS a possible threat to Wi-Fi networks. Read More...

Wireless-Nets, Ltd.

1 comment:

Tom Wickerath said...

Hi Jim,

How much vendor support currently exists for 802.11w or Cisco MFP, to prevent DOS attacks? I believe both client and WAP would need to include this capability, so it may not be much help for municipal installations.

The following is some information that I compiled and sent to a friend, earlier this year, on this subject:

"Here is a 19 minute Fluke wireless security video where they show two forms of Deauthentication Attacks on wireless networks. The first one targets a particular user. The second one is shotgun in style, disconnecting all clients from all wireless access points:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_qEIrh_gW8

Apparently this type of attack is trivial to initiate, and impossible to prevent, unless both WAP (Wireless Access Point) and client support 802.11w or Cisco MFP (Management Frame Protection). This is discussed at 5:45 of the video.

Additional info. on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11w-2009

IEEE 802.11w-2009 is an approved amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard to increase the security of its management frames."


Tom Wickerath
Cable Northwest, LLC.
Bellevue, WA.