Introduction

This chapter discusses what may be the single greatest problem of wireless local area networks (WLANs): rogue access points and unauthorized people using otherwise legitimate access points.This chapter covers wireless-aware product features that address both of these problems, as well as how to set up and use them.

This chapter also we will take a closer look and discusses how to mitigate the threat of rogue access points that pose significant security threats to businesses and their networks.

Employees install wireless devices in their offices and cubicles for their own personal use because they are convenient and inexpensive. Installing access points is as easy as plugging into an Ethernet jack. Unauthorized wireless devices can expose protected corporate networks to attackers, allowing for a security breach. In this chapter, you will learn how personal access points can introduce such threats to your networks and how you can mitigate the threat of rogue access points by using both wireless- and wired-aware devices and their techniques.

You will study traditional techniques such as manual sniffing, physical detection, and wired detection to detect rogue access points, and will also use Cisco s new centralized solutions for detecting rogue access points. In a Cisco-aware infrastructure network, all wireless devices can work hand-in-hand to detect and report unauthorized access points to the central managing station. (Chapter 12 of this book details how to conduct a complete wireless penetration test using the Auditor Security Collection.)

The Problem with Rogue Access Points

A rogue access point is an...