What Is a Wireless Network? 363
Misconfiguration
We have pointed out this problem before in other areas, and misconfiguration is a problem
with access points as well. All the security features in the world aren’t going to help one bit
if they are misconfigured or not configured at all. The danger here is heightened, however,
since a wireless access point provides an ideal “access anywhere” solution for attackers or
other malicious parties that can’t physically connect to the network.
Client Misassociation
The client misassociation attack starts with a client attaching to an access point that is on
a network other than theirs. Due to the way wireless signals propagate through walls and
many other structures, a client can easily detect another access point and attach to it either
accidently or intentionally. In either case, if this is done a client may attach to a network
that is unsafe perhaps while still connected to a secure network. This last scenario can
result in a malicious party gaining access to a protected network.
Promiscuous Client
The promiscuous client offers an irresistibly strong signal intentionally for malicious
purposes. Wireless cards often look for a stronger signal to connect to a network. In this
way the promiscuous client grabs the attention of the users by sending a strong signal.
Jamming Attacks
One particularly interesting way of attacking a WLAN is to resort to a plain old DoS
attack. Although there are many ways to do this, one of the easiest is to just jam the
network, thus preventing it from being used. It is possible to use a specially designed
jammer that will transmit signals that can overwhelm and deny the use of the access point
by legitimate clients. The benefit of this type of attack is that it works on any type of
wireless network.
To perform this type of attack, you can use a specially designed hardware device that
can transmit signals that interfere with 802.11 networks. These devices are easy to find
online and can be used to jam any type of wireless network.
A word to the wise: Using these devices to jam transmissions is illegal in
most cases and can result in very steep fines.Honeyspot Attack
Users can connect to any available wireless network as long as they are in range of one
another, sometimes this can be a large number of access points. With such an environment,
an attacker has expanded opportunities to attract unknowing users. To perform this type
of attack, a malicious party sets up a rogue access point in the range of several legitimate
ones as what is known as a honeyspot. With the rogue access point generating a much
stronger and clearer signal, it is possible to attract clients looking for the best signal.