Wireless Technology

Wireless Technology
Wireless networks come in many different forms, cover various distances, and provide a range of low to
high bandwidth depending on the type installed. Wireless LAN Wireless LAN enable Laptop users to
access the Network of a company.

Basic Wireless Devices

1. Wireless Access Points,
2. Wireless Network Interface Card (WNIC),
3. Wireless Antennas.

Wireless Access Points

In the wireless networks, youll find a central component such as a switch thats there to connect
hosts together and allow them to communicate with each other.
Only that device is known as a wireless access point (AP) instead.

Wireless Network Interface Card (WNIC)

Every host you want to connect to a wireless network needs a wireless network interface card
(WNIC) to do so. Basically, a wireless NIC does the same job as a traditional Ethernet NIC, only
instead of having a socket/port to plug a cable into; the wireless NIC has a radio antenna. It
would be difficult to buy a laptop today without a wireless card already built in.

Wireless Antennas
Wireless antennas work with both transmitters and receivers. There are two broad classes of
antennas on the market today: omnidirectional (or). Wireless access points have at least one
antenna. Usually theres two for better reception (referred to as diversity) and an Ethernet port
to connect them to a wired network.

Wireless Standards (The 802.11 Standards)

Standard

Speed

Frequency (GHZ)

Segment Length

802.11b
802.11a
802.11g
802.11n

11 Mbps
54 Mbps
54 Mbps
74 Mbps

2.4
5
2.4
2.4/5

150
75
100
250 to 300 m

to
to
to

350
175
300

m
m
m

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Wireless Topologies
Now that Ive discussed the very basics of wireless devices used in todays simple networks, I want to
describe the different types of networks youll run across or design and implement as your wireless
networks grow.
These include the following:
1. IBSS
2. BSS
3. ESS

Independent Basic Service Set (Ad Hoc) (IBSS)

Using an ad hoc network is the easiest way to install wireless 802.11 devices. In this mode, the
wireless NICs (or other devices) can communicate directly without the need for an AP.

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Basic Service Set (BSS)

A basic service set (BSS) is the area, or cell, defined by the wireless signal served by the AP. It can
also be called a basic service area (BSA) and the two terms, BSS and BSA, can be interchangeable.
Even so, BSS is the term most commonly used to define the cell area.

Extended Service Set (ESS)

A good thing to know is that if you set all your access points to the same SSID, mobile wireless
clients can roam around freely within the same network. This is the most common wireless
network design youll find in todays corporate settings.
Doing this creates something called an extended service set (ESS), which provides more coverage
than a single access point and allows users to roam from one AP to another without having their
host disconnected from the network. This design creates the ability to move more or less
seamlessly from one AP to another. APs configured with the same SSIDs in an office, thereby
creating the ESS network.

NOTE:- ( SSID is a basic name that defines the BSA transmitted from the AP. Youve probably seen
that name pop up on your host when looking for a wireless network. The SSID can be up to 32
characters long. It normally consists of human readable ASCII characters, but the standard doesnt
require this. The SSID is defined as a sequence of 1 to 32 octets, each of which may take any value.)

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Wireless Security

Open Access
All Wi-Fi Certified wireless LAN products are shipped in open-access mode, with their security
features turned off. While open access or no security may be appropriate and acceptable for
public hot spots such as coffee shops, college campuses, and maybe airports, its definitely not
an option for an enterprise organization, and likely not even adequate for your private home
network.

SSIDs, WEP, and MAC Address Authentication

SSID Authentication- Two types of authentication were specified by the IEEE 802.11
committee: open authentication and shared-key authentication. Open authentication involves
little more than supplying the correct SSIDbut its the most common method in use today.

WEP Authentication- WEP is a type of shared-key authentication With shared-key

authentication, the access point sends the client device a challenge-text packet that the client

Wireless Technology
must then encrypt with the correct Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) key and return to the
access point. Without the correct key, authentication will fail and the client wont be allowed to
associate with the access point. Without the correct key, authentication will fail and the client
wont be allowed to associate with the access point

MAC Address Authentication- Last, client MAC addresses can be statically typed into each
access point, and any of them that show up without that MAC addresses in the filter table would
be denied access. Sounds good, but of course all MAC layer information must be sent in the
clearanyone equipped with a free wireless sniffer can just read the client packets sent to the
access point and spoof their MAC address.
NOTE:-

Encryption Methods
There are two basic types of encryption methods used in most wireless networks today:
TKIP and AES. Well cover TKIP first
Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP):- Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)
which is based on the RC4 encryption algorithm. TKIP first gained respect in the
WLAN world due to the protections it affords the authentication process, but it is
also used after that completes to encrypt the data traffic thereafter.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES):- Both WPA/2 and the 802.11i standard call
for the use of 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for data encryption.
Its widely considered the best encryption available today and has been approved
by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Its also referred to
as AES-CCMP, or AES Counter Mode with CBC-MAC authentication.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a standard testing specification developed in 2003 by the Wi-Fi
Alliance, formerly known as the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). WPA provides
a standard for authentication and encryption of WLANs thats intended to solve known security
problems existing up to and including the year 2003. WPA is a step toward the IEEE 802.11i
standard and uses many of the same components, with the exception of encryption802.11i
uses AES encryption.

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WPA or WPA2 Pre-Shared Key
WPA or WPA2Pre-Shared Key (PSK) is a better form of wireless security than any other basic
wireless security method mentioned so far.
WPA or WPA2 Enterprise
WPA and WPA2 support an enterprise authentication method. This is called Extensible
Authentication Protocol (EAP). Understand that EAP isnt a single method, but a framework that
enhances the existing 802.1x framework.