Wireless Threats

Wireless Threats

Due to the numerous benefits of the wireless techhnologies, wireless n are hugely used all over the world. But networks the wireless network is not free from threats. War driving, War chalking, Evil twin, Rouge AP, Bluejacking, Bluesnarfing and WPA/WEP/WPS attacks are some common type of threats that targets the wireless network. These wireless threats are discussed in detail in the following section:

War Driving: War driving is a type of attack that searches any available wireless network in moving vehicles with the help of any portable devices such as a laptop or smart phones. War driving is also called as access point mapping. In this type of attack, the attackers search the wireless network while driving and accessing it illegally. The main intention of using this attack is to break down the wireless network for obtaining sensitive information or other illegal activities. However, some people use it just for accessing the Internet from the free wireless network. For performing war driving, the attacker will require a vehicle, laptop or smart phone, wireless Ethernet card and an antenna that can be mounted somewhere on the vehicle. The war driver can easily map the location of wireless access point with the help of omnidirectional antenna and GPS.

War driving was developed after the introduction of war dialing, which is exactly a similar approach used to breach a telephone system. That is why war driving was named after war dialing.

War Chalking: War chalking is a type of attack that uses different symbols for providing information about available wireless network that is free or unsecured. These attacks use chalks to mark the symbol on the near walls or street signs that indicate the wireless network location. The attackers read these symbols and access the wireless network.

Along with that, war chalking also provide the attacker information about the type of wireless connection, which may be an open a closed node or Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) node. This able the attacker to identify the Wi-Fi hot spot and its security and then the hacker can attack the Wi-Fi network by using the information.

Rogue AP: Rogue Access Point (AP) is one of the wireless access points which is installed on a network without any authorisation. It is created without taking any permission from the network administrator of the network Sometimes, legitimate users, who are unaware about the security threats might install the rogue AP. The insider attacker may also intentionally install Rogue AP on the network. Rogue AP has security threats that permit outsiders to break the network or to break all security measures such as firewalls, NAC and others.

Evil twin: Evil twin is a type of rogue access point that configures and creates the same legitimate AP to attack wireless network for accessing sensitive information. The evil twin attack creates a fake Wi-Fi access point, which is similar to the available Wi-Fi access point. This type of attack mainly takes place on unmonitored areas like parks because the attackers can easily access a legitimate access point in this area to create an evil twin access point with the same name. For example, if you are in a park and your smart phone detects a free Wi-Fi hotspot named as “CentralPark”, you may probably think to connect to the network to access free Internet without confirming the legitimacy of the access point. As soon as you connect to it, the attacker can collect all your personal information that is stored in your smartphone.

Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing: Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing are the wireless attack that take the help of Bluetooth for attacking wireless network. Bluejacking sends messages between the two devices that are enabled with Bluetooth whereas the Bluesnarfing access information from any nearby wireless devices using the Bluetooth connection. Bluesnarfing is a type of device attack that directly steals the data from wireless devices. Both Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing allow the attacker to steal information of the target device without the knowledge of the owner of the device. It allows the attackers to access calendars, contact lists, emails and text messages. It can also allow the attacker to copy pictures and private videos on the phones. This wireless attack is done by Bluetooth connection in between phones, laptops, desktops or any other Personal Digital Assistant (PDAs).

WPAIINEP/WPS attacks: The Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) are some wireless security standards that provide security to the wireless networks. But none of these security measures are 100% secure and attackers can attack these wireless security standards. WEP uses a security key and attackers only need to find out this key to attack the network. After finding the key, the attackers monitor the network traffic and try to take the role of the network administrators by changing the default settings. WPA is one of the wireless security protocol that also uses the temporal security key and encryption. The attackers find out the key and try to decrypt network traffic. In WPA the router uses 8-digit PIN to connect the network device to the computer network. However, the router checks only the 4 digits of the PIN separately instead of checking the entire 8 digits. The attacker takes the advantage of this situation as it is relatively easier to crack the four digits by guessing different combinations. There can be only 11,000 possible four digit codes and if the attacker can somehow find out the first four digit they can easily crack the rest of the digits and attack the network.

 

 

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