Summary
In this chapter, we have learnt the following about WLAN authentication:
Hidden SSIDs is a security through obscurity feature, which is relatively simple to beat.
MAC address filters do not provide any security as MAC addresses can be sniffed from the air from the wireless packets. This is possible because the MAC addresses are unencrypted in the packet.
Open Authentication provides no real authentication at all.
Shared Key Authentication is bit tricky to beat but with the help of the right tools we can derive the store the
keystream, using which it is possible to answer all future challenges sent by the access point. The result is that we can authenticate without needing to know the actual key.In the next chapter, we will look at different WLAN encryption mechanisms—WEP, WPA, and WPA2, and look at the insecurities which plague them.
