Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP)
From: "Christopher E. Cramer" <chris.cramer () DUKE EDU>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 12:00:56 -0400
my understanding is that there is one single SSID for the campus which is broadcasted. there may be some other SSIDs that I am unaware of, but for the most part, we don't rely on the SSID for anything other than identifying/specifying which wireless network you have attached to. since we aren't relying on ssids for access control, this isn't a problem. on a related note, i was in a space that had wireless, but the ssid wasn't being broadcast. someone came in with a mac and it "helpfully" detected the non-broadcast ssid and attached itself to the wireless network. just something to consider :) -c On Wed, 13 Jul 2005, Jeff Kell wrote:
Christopher E. Cramer wrote:Regarding access control, it seemed to us that a "shared secret" between the 30,000+ people at the institution, wasn't much of a secret and so the access control capability wasn't too useful.On a more fundamental level, how do you have SSIDs setup? * Do you have separate SSIDs for "public", "student", "fac/staff", etc? * Do you broadcast all of them, or just certain ones. * How do you disseminate information about non-broadcast SSIDs to users? * Do you periodically change SSIDs of non-broadcast domains? We are currently debating this issue, haven't gotten around to encryption yet, but it is obviously on the table. Granted that a "shared secret" or a "private SSID" between numerous users is hardly a secret, but if you broadcast, isn't that somewhat akin to an open door? Jeff
Current thread:
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Jeff Kell (Jul 13)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Willis Marti (Jul 13)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Information Security (Jul 13)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Information Security (Jul 13)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Willis Marti (Jul 13)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Christopher E. Cramer (Jul 13)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Dean De Beer (Jul 13)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Koerber, Jeff (Jul 15)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Mark S. Bruhn (Jul 15)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Dean De Beer (Jul 15)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Jeff Kell (Jul 15)
- Re: Wireless SSIDs (was Re: WEP) Koerber, Jeff (Jul 18)