Chapter 8: Securing Wireless and Mobile Solutions

Over the past 5 years, there has been an increased use of wireless devices, both in the workplace and in hotels and coffee shops. The demand is so high that if a hotel does not provide Wi-Fi, then their bookings may decrease. As wireless has increased, so have mobile devices, ranging from IoT, smartphones, and tablets to laptops. Today's security professionals need to have a good fundamental knowledge of security for both mobile devices and wireless solutions. This is what we will be covering in this chapter.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Implementing Wireless Security
• Understanding Secure Mobile Solutions

Implementing Wireless Security

Wireless communication is now part of everyday life, from using 4G/5G on your mobile phone to access the internet or using Bluetooth to listen to your music as you walk down the road. However, if your wireless device is insecure, this can lead to data loss and maybe someone stealing funds from your bank account.

Let's first look at the different types of wireless networks:

• WLAN: A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is an internal corporate wireless network that sits in your Local Area Network. Normally, in a WLAN, you would use WPA2 Enterprise, the corporate version of wireless with CCMP, the strongest wireless encryption as it uses AES encryption.
• Guest: A guest wireless network is a wireless network separate from your WLAN where visitors can access the internet; it may be used for training purposes. The guest wireless network can be used by members of staff to access the internet during their lunchtimes.
• Infrastructure: An infrastructure...

Wireless Access Point Controllers

Whether you are a home or a business user, you will need to set up your WAP to provide an IP address and internet connectivity to the devices using the WAP. Let's look at the two different types of controllers.

• Fat Controllers: A fat controller is a standalone WAP, similar to that used at home. It has its own pool of DHCP addresses, and all configurations for the wireless network are installed on the WAP.
• Thin Controllers: A thin controller allows multiple WAPs to be controlled remotely by a single controller; this is ideal in a corporate environment where there are quite a few WAPs.

  Exam tip

  A thin controller is used to manage multiple WAPs remotely.

Securing Access to Your WAP

Without the use of encryption, there are some simple methods for securing access to your WAP:

• Default Username and Password: When you install a WAP, it has a default username and password, both being set to admin or password, in lowercase...

Deploying Mobile Devices Securely

Mobile devices are now used in our everyday lives and they pose problems for security teams as they are very portable and extremely easy to steal. In this section, we will look at some of the problems that you may face as a security professional. But first, let's look at mobile device management.

Mobile Device Management

Mobile Device Management (MDM) sets policies for the installation and protection of mobile devices. For example, they may prevent the camera from being used on mobile devices and could also prevent a smartphone from being able to send/receive texts. You can set password policies on the password length, or remote wipe for lost or stolen devices, where the device is rolled back to the factory setup.

Bring Your Own Device

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is where an employee is encouraged to bring in their own device so that they can use it for work. Although this may save the employer money, it also has its pitfalls. BYOD...

Mobile Device Connection Methods

There are various connection methods for mobile devices:

• Cellular: This is where tablets and phones are using 3G, 4G, or 5G to connect to their provider without needing any other devices. Cellular connections are encrypted to prevent anyone from seeing who is logging on or stealing your data. The problem that cellular faces is that, if there are no masts nearby and the device has a setting of no service, they will not work.
• Hotspot: A hotspot is a physical location people can connect to so that they can access the internet. It is possible to turn your cellular phone into a hotspot.
• Global Positioning System (GPS): GPS uses three satellites in the Earth's orbit to measure the distance between two points.
• Radio-frequency identification (RFID): This uses radio frequency to identify electromagnetic fields in a tag to track assets. It is commonly used in shops as the tags are attached to high-value assets to prevent theft. When...

Review Questions

Now it's time to check your knowledge. Answer the questions, and then check your answers, which can be found in the Solutions section at the end of the book:

1. What two groups of people might use a guest wireless network?
2. What is the difference between fat and thin wireless controllers?
3. What is the WAP master password, and how would you protect it?
4. What two tasks can a Wi-Fi Analyzer perform?
5. What is the purpose of MAC filtering?
6. Why should you place your first WAP on channel 1, your second WAP on channel 11, and your third WAP on channel 6?
7. Why would an engineer carry out a site survey before installing a wireless network?
8. Would you use online banking if you were in a hotel that uses Open Authentication? If not, what would you do instead?
9. What is the weakest version of wireless encryption?
10. If a friend comes to visit you in your house and asks for the wireless password, what are you giving them?
11. What is the most secure...