20 - Wireless Networking

Introduction to Wireless

The term wireless is normally used to refer to any type of electrical or electronic operation which is accomplished without the use of a "hard wired" connection. For a long range communications, it is impossible or impractical to implement with the use of wires. Radio transmitters and receivers, computer networks, network terminals which use some form of energy (e.g.,radio frequency (RF), infrared light, laser light, visible light, or acoustic energy) to transfer information without the use of wires. Information is transferred in this manner over both short and long distances.

Wireless technology is based on the IEEE (Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers) 802.11 standard, which is one of the many standards of the IEEE 802 LAN/WAN standards 802.11 used to be currently the most affordable and available specification, but as technology keeps on evolving, now the most affordable standard is 802.11g. The most important factor here is the bandwidth provided by the standard. When wireless network was first introduced the 802.11 standard could only provide 1 – 2 Mbps connection speed. Later, the 802.11b provided 11 Mbps bandwidth. Both 802.11a and 802.11g standards provide 54 Mbps connection speed between the wireless device and the access point

Introduction  

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Wireless networks are growing in popularity Instead of CAT5 or CAT 6 network cables, wireless networks use radio waves to communicate with each other. Most of today’s wireless networks are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard.

WIRELESS PRODUCTS 

Routers & Gateways

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Switches Power Over Ethernet Adapters Wireless Access Points Wireless Print Servers Wireless Antennas Wireless Storage Devices Storage Central Wireless Game Box

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X Box

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY IN NETWORKING     

 WiFi  WiMAX  WLAN

WiFi   

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WiFi is the wireless way to handle networking. It is also known as 802.11 networking and wireless networking . The big advantage of WiFi is its simplicity. You can connect computers anywhere in your home or office without the need for wires. The computers connect to the network using radio signals, and computers can be up to 100 feet or so apart.

WI-MAX

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is the IEEE 802.16 standards-based wireless technology that provides MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) broadband connectivity. WiMAX is an Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems, also known as the IEEE Wireless MAN air interface.

WLAN

Most industry estimates suggest that more than 85% of all enterprises will have at least one WLAN installation by 2007 . The Wi-Fi Alliance believes it is critical For IT managers to understand the risks of WLANs and immediately take WLAN Security Breaches prudent action to secure their installation. There are two aspects of WLAN security: data protection (encryption) and network access control (authentication). Breaches can occur at the network level via the wireless access point (AP), or at an individual PC either attached to a network or operating in ad hoc mode and communicating in a peer-to-peer fashion. The result of a wireless privacy breach is the same as it would be for a physical wire based network privacy issue: corporate data is at risk for third party recovery or modification. Because of the broadcast nature of wireless, however, providing data protection is much more challenging with wireless networks. Network breaches range from someone taking unauthorized enterprise network bandwidth to connect to the Internet, to attempts at accessing corporate secrets.

WIRELESS SECURITY   

Wireless Encryption - WEP, WPA,  and WPA2. This a very basic description of the differences between Encryption Security Methods used by Entry Level Wireless Hardware (802.11b/g). WEP. Each packet of the Encryption has 24bits Initialization vector. Which unfortunately done in plaintext. 40bits (encryption)+ 24bits(init. vector)=64bits Encryption. 104bit(encryption)+ 24bits(init. vector)=128bits Encryption. WEP uses RC4 stream encryption, for a fresh key stream for each packet. The Init Vector & the key are combined to get per-packet key which is used to generate RC4 keys stream. The RC4 is one of the major culprits in the security issues. Part of the weakness of RC4 has to do with the combo of Init. Vector and Plain Text chipper. 24 bit Init vector is finishing a cycle of 2 in the power of 24 in about hour and then repeats. Repeating Init Vector plus knowledge about the plaintext language, makes guessing the plaintexts simpler.  

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WIFI PROTECTED ACCESS WPA WPA It is an interim solution that is used now until 802.11i comes out. It still using RC4, but the Key was changed to TKIP. TKIP basically works by generating a sequence of WEP keys based on a master key, and re-keying periodically before enough volume of info. could be captured to allow recovery of the WEP key. TKIP changes the Key every 10,000 packets, which is quick enough to combat statistical methods to analyze the cipher.

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TKIP also adds into the picture the Message Integrity Code (MIC). The transmission’s CRC, and ICV (Integrity Check Value) is checked. If the packet was tampered with. WPA will stop using the current keys and re-keys. The Big Change will be Advance Encryption Standard (AES). 802.11i will change the WPA RC4 usage to employ AES. Referred to as WPA2 the main difference for regular user would be. WPA uses (as describe above) TKIP/MIC Encryption. WPA2 uses AES-CCMP Encryption AES aka the Rijndael algorithm is a secure, fast symmetric cipher that is easily implemented in hardware. AES has its own mechanism for dynamic key generation. It's also resistant to statistical analysis of the cipher text. Counter-Mode/CBC-MAC Protocol (CCMP) called the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Advantages of Wireless Technology           

Ease to install Ease to modify Mobility Portability Inter-connectability Expandability Ease to be segmented Being economical Transparency Reusability Having broad range of coverage and options

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