Question

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE) is an organization that develops standards for wireless communication gathering information from subject‐matter experts (SME). IEEE is not an institution formed by a specific government but is a community of recognized leaders who follow the principle of “one country, one vote.”

The IEEE 802.11 is a set of specifications on implementing wireless over several frequencies. As technology has evolved, so has the need for more revisions. If you were to go shopping for wireless equipment, you would see the array of choices you have based on those revisions of 802.11. Most consumer and enterprise wireless devices conform to 802.11a, 802.11b/g/n, and 802.11ac standards. These standards are better known as Wi‐Fi. Bluetooth and wireless personal area networks (WPANs) are specialized wireless technologies, and they are defined by IEEE 802.15.

In Figure 6.1 , you see a simple wireless topology; you have a laptop, a printer, and a mobile device all connecting through one wireless access point (WAP) via a router that connects directly to the Internet service provider (ISP), giving the end devices access to the Internet all at the same time.

Figure 6.1 : Simple star wireless topology

To best utilize and protect this wireless environment, you need to understand how it works. If you can control electromagnetic waves, you can use them to communicate. Information is sent from one component called a transmitter and picked up by another called a receiver. The transmitter sends electrical signals through an antenna to create waves that spread outward. The receiver with another antenna in the path of those waves picks up the signal and amplifies it so it can be processed. A wireless router is simply a router that uses radio waves instead of cables. It contains a low‐power radio transmitter and receiver, with a range of about 90 meters or 300 feet, depending on what your walls are made of. The router can send and receive Internet data to any computer in your environment that is also equipped with wireless access. Each computer on the wireless network has to have a transmitter and receiver in it as well. A router becomes an access point for the Internet, creating an invisible “cloud” of wireless connectivity called as a hotspot.

There are advantages and disadvantages to communicating wirelessly. Networks are pretty easy to set up and rather inexpensive, with several choices of frequencies to communicate over. Disadvantages can include keeping this communication secure, the range of the wireless devices, reliability, and, of course, speed. The transmitter and the receiver need to be on the same frequency, and each 802.11 standard has its own set of pros and cons. Table 6.1 describes the IEEE 802.11 standards for wireless devices. As with any technology, wireless devices have evolved to become faster with more range depending on the standard. 802.11ac is sometimes referred to as Wi‐Fi 5 and is what most current wireless routers are compliant with. These devices will have multiple antennas to send and receive data reducing errors and boosting speed. There is a new Wi‐Fi technology coming in the near future called 802.11ax or Wi‐Fi 6. 802.11ax will be anywhere from four to ten times faster than existing Wi‐Fi with wider channels available and promises to be less congested and improve battery life on mobile devices since data is transmitted faster.

Table 6.1 : IEEE 802.11 standards

FEATURE	802.11A	802.11B	802.11G	802.11N	802.11AC
Frequency	5 GHz	2.4 GHz	5 GHz	2.4/5 GHz	5 GHz
Maximum data rate	54 Mbps	11 Mbps	54 Mbps	600 Mbps	1 Mbps
Range indoors	100 feet	100 feet	125 feet	225 feet	90 feet
Range outdoors	400 feet	450 feet	450 feet	825 feet	1,000 feet

As with any technology, as it evolves, you will start making decisions on what scenario is best for you and your organization. There may be trade‐offs on frequency used, speed, or the range of a device from a Wi‐Fi hotspot. A hotspot is merely an area with an accessible network.

When building a typical wireless small office or home office (SOHO) environment, after you identify what technology and design is best for your situation, you configure the settings of your router using a web interface. You can select the name of the network you want to use, known as the service set identifier (SSID). You can choose the channel. By default, most routers use channel 6 or 11. You will also choose security options, such as setting up your own username and password as well as encryption.

As a best practice, when you configure security settings on your router, choose Wi‐Fi Protected Access version 2 (WPA2). WPA2 is the recommended security standard for Wi‐Fi networks. It can use either TKIP or AES encryption, depending on the choices you make during setup. AES is considered more secure.

Another best practice is configuring MAC filtering on your router. This doesn't use a password to authenticate. It uses the MAC address of the device itself. Each device that connects to a router has its own MAC address. You can specify which MAC addresses are allowed on your network as well as set limitations to how many devices can join your network. If you set up your router to use MAC filtering, one drawback is every time you need to add a device, you have to grant network permission. You sacrifice convenience for better protection. After reading this book, the more advanced user will know how to capture packets, examine the data, and possibly identify the MAC address of a device in the list of permitted devices. MAC filtering with WPA2 encryption will be the best way to protect your data.