Wireless LAN 802.11 security

Abstract

When the wireless communications is coming to the offices and the homes, there are some new security issues to be taken care of. Today we have continuously growing markets for the wireless LANs, but there is big black hole in the security of this kind of networks. Companies without controlled doors cannot ensure the security and safety of their employees, nor can they prevent piracy and theft. Networks without controlled access cannot guarantee the security or privacy of stored data, nor can they keep network resources from being exploited by hackers. In our thesis we are giving an overview of the security functions and threats specified in one wireless LAN standard, namely in the IEEE 802.11. The IEEE 802.11 is one of the very first wireless local area network standards that is currently widely deployed. Much research has been done on the IEEE 802.11 wireless network standard and the standard is known for its insecurity. Several reports have addressed the 802.11-based network vulnerabilities mainly for its lack of authentication. This thesis aims to improve the IEEE 802.11 standard by analyzing the security mechanisms the standard provides. The IEEE 802.11 standard provides basic security mechanisms such as the wired equivalent protocol, an encryption protocol, and the media access based access control list, which is essentially a list of legitimate clients. Attackers may easily penetrate these IEEE 802.11 basic security mechanisms. I did not perform any testing of the attack solutions. Successors of this thesis project should implement the attack and test out solutions.