Chapter 16. Wireless Security
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the electromagnetic spectrum
Understanding wireless transmission systems
Defining the generations of wireless technologies
Reviewing spread spectrum technology
Understanding 802.11 wireless LAN specifications
Identifying and securing wireless communication
Wireless cellular technology has made the cellular phone a must-have accessory that enables us to instantly communicate with friends, relatives, and business associates. Similarly, computers can also be free of wired connections when they are part of a wireless local area network (LAN) network. However, with this increased freedom comes increased risk of information compromise, particularly in wireless LANs.
This chapter explains cellular phone and wireless LAN technologies and addresses the associated wireless network security vulnerabilities and safeguards.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Before exploring the details of cellular phones and wireless LANs, a review of some fundamental terminology might be helpful. In wireless technology, the information is transmitted through the air similar to radio signal transmissions. The immediate issue from a security perspective is that anyone can intercept the communication, even if it is encrypted. While encryption would stop someone from reading the content of the information, interception of the wireless signal allows for interference and other types of attacks.
The transmitted waves can be described in terms of a sine wave, as shown in Figure ...
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