Unauthorised Access: Physical Penetration Testing For IT Security Teams

7.1. Wireless Networking Concepts

Before you can approach wireless hacking, there are a few things you need to be familiar with such as terms, definitions and the technologies commonly used in wireless networking.

The terms in Table 7.1 are used throughout this chapter. Although I have attempted to make the content as accessible as possible, this is a technical subject and, if any of the following terms are unfamiliar, it may be wise to do some further research before embarking on physical penetration tests that contain an element of wireless hacking.

7.1.1. Problems that Wireless Networks Solve

There are a number of benefits to deploying wireless networks:

• Cost Efficiency – Wireless networks are (now) cheaper to deploy and maintain than wired networks because adding more clients in a wired network involves adding switches and laying cables, which can add costs and disrupt business. Achieving true scalability in a wired network requires considerable forethought and planning.

• Portability – Users can work anywhere within range of the access point which allows for some very creative hotdesking possibilities.

• Tidiness – No cables trailing about the place is tidier and means there is less physical infrastructure to maintain reducing the overall cost of ownership and again reducing costs.

• Speed of Deployment – A wireless network can be deployed very rapidly. All you need is an access point connected to your physical infrastructure and most modern laptops come with a wireless card.