Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
RE: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te
From: "Sloane, David" <DSloane () vfa com>
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 12:22:35 -0500
John, I'm in a similar position - management is interested in wireless LAN, I'm more interested in security. If you isolate the WLAN from your LAN on separate firewall interface, and you only allow (encrypted, authenticated) vpn access to *anything*, you've left a pretty small attack surface. At the same time, you have to protect those wireless client machines so they don't become compromised. For me, these are laptop and tablet PC's. Putting these clients on a WLAN, with a (centrally managed) personal firewall, they're no more vulnerable than they are on a regular internet connection (dial-up, hotel, convention center, home broadband, etc). The other advantage to this approach is that a rogue wireless client machine can't even get free Internet access on your WLAN. In fact, that segment would be a good place for some kind of honeypot to help you pick up on unauthorized users. The biggest down-side to wireless, from my perspective, is the increased security requirements of client machines. This tends to require more management by IT staff or more management tools for IT staff. This additional cost is important to recognize and consider while evaluating WLAN deployment (or any deployment, for that matter). Without substantial management - especially centrally-managed firewall and anti-virus software - the risk created by WLAN clients doesn't get mitigated. -David -----Original Message----- From: firewall-wizards-admin () honor icsalabs com [mailto:firewall-wizards-admin () honor icsalabs com] On Behalf Of Stewart, John Sent: November 03, 2003 6:49 PM To: 'firewall-wizards () honor icsalabs com' Subject: [fw-wiz] (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te I've been getting a lot of heat from management at one of our sites to implement wireless networking. I've been adamant in the past that it would not be feasible due to the inherent insecurities with WEP under 802.11. My opinion has been that if they want to use wireless LANs, we can set up a seperate leg on the firewall, treat it like a completely untrusted network, and they can VPN in to get access to internal networks. However, of course the pointy-hairs in that office want to be able to walk around with their laptops as if they were wired. I don't know why it would be so hard to plug the laptop into the wall in the conference room, but I do understand that it would be "nice to have". I use a WAP at home, and like it. Anyhow, the Cisco offering in this area does look to be somewhat promising at ameliorating the risks involved with wireless. Here is their white paper on their Wireless Security Suite offering: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/ps430/products_white_pap er09 186a00800b469f.shtml It does sound like they're doing some good things, and I'm wondering what the opinion is from you wizards on it. Anyone used it? Is it Good Enough? While I understand that adding wireless access points, even when done properly, is inherently adding security risk that I did not have before, my job (of course) is to balance business need versus security. I guess the question is, with this product, am I taking a larger risk than I am with, say, some of these other issues which would not be necessary in an ideal, secured, world: - Allowing VPNs from users' PCs (a software firewall is required in that case, but certainly this is riskier than not allowing it) - HTTP access to everywhere from the internal (Windows) desktops - Email on Outlook/Exchange. While we disallow executable attachments, and run virus/trojan scanners on the server and desktop, this is certainly another worrisome vector of attack. So, with this "Wireless Security Suite" on some Aironet access points, is a wireless LAN (connected to our internal network) really a bigger risk than these other risks, necessitated by our business requirements? thanks! johnS _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () honor icsalabs com http://honor.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () honor icsalabs com http://honor.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards
Current thread:
- (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te Stewart, John (Nov 04)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te R. DuFresne (Nov 04)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te John Adams (Nov 04)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te R. DuFresne (Nov 05)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te John Adams (Nov 04)
- RE: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te Ben Nagy (Nov 04)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te David Wagner (Nov 05)
- Problem with TCP 1433, conduits and ACLs... Wes Noonan (Nov 26)
- RE: Problem with TCP 1433, conduits and ACLs... Andy Lyakhovetskiy (Nov 28)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te David Wagner (Nov 05)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te R. DuFresne (Nov 04)
- Re: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Suite Mikael Olsson (Nov 04)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: (In)security of wireless LANs and the Cisco Wireless Security Sui te Sloane, David (Nov 04)