Security for Corporate Wireless Local Area Networks
Janet Geldermann, James J. Magee · 2006
Wi-Fi networks, or more specifically, networks using the 802.11b standard have become more and more popular for a number of reasons including: low cost, widely available 802.11b networking cards/adapters/devices, widely available ‘hot spots’, and increasing home and office use of 802.11b. With the increasing number of corporations considering 802.11b as more cost effective method for implementing a local area network, security issues should be addressed. In the last several years, many security vulnerabilities in 802.11b have been discovered including weaknesses in encryption and authentication, which lead to several methods of attack, by hackers. This paper addresses many of the weaknesses of 802.11b and how the security mechanisms of the IEEE standard 802.11i and WPA2 improve the security of wireless networks. In addition to the newer protocol, corporations should consider implementation of a layered security approach.