Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 463 Chapter 14 Wireless Network Security attacks by placing the rogue router near the target and providing a stronger signal so the victim connects to the evil twin by mistake. At this point, all traffic routes through the evil twin. A hacker can intercept and discover all data sent to and from the target. This process is illustrated in Figure 14-10. Hackers can deploy networks with SSIDs that sound legitimate. One way to do this is to create an SSID that is the same as a legitimate one except for case, such as ACME_Network instead of ACME_NETWORK. Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing Bluejacking is a Bluetooth-based concern in which somebody sends an unsolicited message, such as an advertisement, via Bluetooth. You may have had a retailer do this to you as you walked past a store in a mall. Bluejacking is usually just annoying, not a serious threat. A more troubling attack is called Bluesnarfing.BluesnarfingisaBluetooth-based attack in which a hacker exploits a Bluetooth connection to steal data from a Bluetooth-enabled device. Hackers may be able to inject viruses and other malware into the device. There are steps that can be taken to protect the data and device: ■■ The easiest protection is turning off Bluetooth when it is not in use. The risk of data being intercepted or for hijacking is high in public, crowded areas, so the user must be extra vigilant. Use the security measures offered on the device, from authentication to encryption. Disassociation A disassociation attack is a form of a denial of service attack in which the hacker disconnects a user from their wireless network. This is done by sending a disassoci- ation signal to the victim. A disassociation signal is one that deactivates a user from an access point. When the victim’s computer is disconnected, it will typically attempt to reconnect to the current network automatically or search for a wireless network. If the hacker had also established an evil twin, the user’s computer could unknow- ingly connect to the illegitimate AP, especially if the evil twin signal is stronger than the legitimate AP’s. Within minutes, all traffic between the two devices can be inter- cepted and parsed using a program such as Ettercap or Wireshark. 1.4 1.4 School Library (Evil Twin) School Library (Legitimate Router) Strong Signal Weak Signal Goodheart-Willcox Publisher (tablet) romvo/Shutterstock.com (routers) RealVector/Shutterstock.com Figure 14-10 An evil twin router carries the same SSID as the desired AP and provides a stronger signal, which means it will likely be the one to which a user connects.
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