Beautiful Security

Chapter 2. Wireless Networking: Fertile Ground for Social Engineering

Jim Stickley

By now, everyone has heard the security concerns about wireless devices. They have been an area of concern for many security professionals since the original Wi-Fi release in 2000. As early as 2001, the standard Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) access protocol, designed to keep unwanted users from accessing the device, was discovered to have fundamental flaws that allowed security to be bypassed within a couple of minutes. Although security was greatly increased in 2003 with the release of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), most paranoid system administrators still had their doubts. Sure enough, with time new exploits were discovered in WPA as well. Although it is not nearly as dangerous as WEP, it left many administrators feeling justified in their concerns.

However, while one camp has remained skeptical, others have seen the operational benefits that come with wireless and have embraced the technology. For example, handheld devices carried throughout a department store allow employees to accomplish inventory-related tasks while communicating directly with the organization’s servers. This can save a tremendous amount of time and increase customer service satisfaction. Wi-Fi has reinvigorated the use of public spaces from cafés to parks around the world. Unfortunately, several attack scenarios remain largely unknown and could feed an epidemic of corporate and personal identity theft.

This chapter begins with ...