Wireless Deauthentication Flashcards
1
Q
It started as a normal day
A
- Surfing along on your wireless network
- And then you’re not
- And then it happens again
- And again
- You may not be able to stop it
- There’s (almost) nothing you can do
- Time to get a long patch cable
- Wireless deauthentication
- A significant wireless denial of service (DoS) attack
2
Q
802.11 management frames
A
• 802.11 wireless includes a number of management
features
- Frames that make everything work
- You never see them
• Important for the operation of 802.11 wireless
• How to find access points, manage QoS, associate/
disassociate with an access point, etc.
• Original wireless standards did not add protection for
management frames
• Sent in the clear
• No authentication or validation
3
Q
Protecting against disassociation
A
- IEEE has already addressed the problem
- 802.11w - July 2014
• Some of the important management frames are
encrypted
• Disassociate, deauthenticate, channel switch
announcements, etc.
- Not everything is encrypted
- Beacons, probes, authentication, association
- Cart before the horse
- 802.11w is required for 802.11ac compliance
- This will roll out going forward