Wireless Computing: Are you safe

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Wireless Computing Are you safe?

• John C. Shovic, Ph.D.
• Computer Science
• Eastern Washington University

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John Shovic background

• Co-founder MiloCreek
• Co-founder Blue Water Technologies
• Co-founder - TriGeo Network Security
• Co-founder - AHA, bankCDA

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John Shovic background

• WSU, University of Idaho faculty
• Skill set network security networks embedded
  systems coyote baiting

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Is my software or system secure?

• The theory states in the general case
• You dont know for sure it is secure
• Even more
• You CANT know if it is secure
• I call it
• Job security

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Security is a balancing act
Secure Computer
Usable Computer
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How bad is it?

• There are 10 15 more viruses detected every day
• The average time for a computer on the net to be
  scanned is 45 seconds
• 50 of successful intrusions happen from the
  inside (Firewalls do NO good there)

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CSI/FBI Survey 2005(1999 results)

• 90 (55) of respondents reported incidents
  (Reporting to LEO is down again!)
• 10 (26) of respondents reported theft of
  proprietary information
• Financial losses due to computer security
  breaches reached over 130 million (over 100
  million)
• Virus loss still 1!

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CSI / FBI 2005 Survey conclusions

• Actual breaches are down
• Losses are down slightly
• Virus cost continues to increase as percentage of
  the problem
• Survey does not include anything about home
  issues or small businesses
• Overall problem is slightly worse than last year

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Why do people use wireless?

• No way to get a wire there
• Convenience Meeting rooms
• Large, sparse areas (warehouse)
• Mobility Internet Café
• Cheaper than wiring

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Pros and cons

• Pros
• Cheap
• No wires. Flexible
• Cons
• Cheap
• Relatively slow
• Shared bandwidth
• Data is freely available in Air!!!!

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Wireless

• You can easily snoop on wireless connections
• People do it all the time
• Cyber Cafés
• Airports
• Ad-hoc Settings
• Universities
• WarDrives

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Wake up call

• Unaided Laptop
• Range from access point 12 miles
• In reverse we can sniff/join or control a
  wireless network at ranges of 12 miles,
  undetected
• Record is now 54 miles!

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WarDrives

• Take your laptop and go cruising
• EWU Network Security did this for the past 3
  years
• 75 of wireless networks were WIDE OPEN
  (WWWD2004 found 61)
• Home networks all over the place
• One person had her address as the ESID!
• Small business networks all over the place
• Some were wide open!

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Who are the bad guys?
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Who is the enemy?

• The Troubled Genius
• The Evil Genius
• Has a deep understanding of systems
• Capable of finding obscure vulnerabilities in
  OSs, apps, and protocols, and exploiting them
• Extremely skilled at evading countermeasures
• Can dynamically adapt to new environments

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Who is the enemy?

• The Idiot (aka Script Kiddies)
• Little or no true understanding of systems
• Blindly downloads runs code written by T.E.G.
• Can usually be stopped by calling his mother

Who do you think causes more damage?
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doh!

• The idiots collectively cause more damage because
  there are a vast number of them
• Every time smart hackers find a new security
  hole, they make it public -- they have a publish
  or perish ethic
• Each time, hordes of idiots pounce on it and
  break into every system they can find

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Publish or Perishor, good help is not hard to
find30,000 hacker sites and counting!
(Deutchland uber alles!)
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Sounds dangerous. Can you do anything?
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Top 5 wireless security tips

• Use WEP (Encryption)!!!!
• Change default SSIDs and disable SSID broadcast
  and turn down power to what you need
• Turn it off when you arent using it. Both the
  access point and your laptop
• Watch your lights! Be suspicious
• Keep your software updated (Do Windows XP SP2 and
  all updates from MS)

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EWU Network Security class sequence
CSCD 333 Introduction to Networking
CSCD 433/547 Advanced Networking
CSCD 434/590 Network Security
CSCD 480/591 Information Warfare
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Network Security /Information Warfare

• Hack the Professor Week
• Succeed? Get an Automatic A
• Red Versus Blue Hacking Contest
• Two teams trying to defend their servers and
  attack the other team
• 3 p.m. to Midnight
• Huge quantities of pizza and caffine consumed

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Conclusions

• Be careful with wireless
• Watch out for the EWU WarDrive!
• (Odd looking antennas!)
• Computers and Networks are important
• Educate yourself

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Questions and Discussion