Field Guide to Wireless LANs for Administrators and Power Users, A

Introduction to Wireless LAN Security

There are multiple types of “evasive maneuvers” that operators of WLANs can take to help shield their networks from attack. In the era when WEP was all that was available—and especially once WEP was known to be approximately the same as no protection at all—there were certain configuration techniques that did not rely on encryption, but tried to rely on subterfuge.

Non-Cryptographic Security Schemes

One of the earliest schemes by which some vendors tried to enable “security” is by supporting a feature that became known as “Closed WLANs.” Normally, the AP includes the SSID in its Beacon MMPDUs, but a suitably modified AP may be configurable to omit the SSID from its Beacons. In order to join a “closed” WLAN, ...