Wireless Penetration Testing

Wireless Penetration Testing assesses Wi-Fi networks, encryption, authentication, segmentation, and rogue access risks. Students learn how attackers exploit weak wireless setups and how to defend against them. For organizations, this ensures wireless networks don’t become an easy entry point. For learners, wireless testing projects provide real-world attack-defense experience, strengthening their overall cybersecurity skillset.

Whilst wireless (“WiFi”) networks are very common in company offices, wireless networks may be targeted by threat actors looking to remotely access company devices and networked resources. A wireless network penetration test can assess both the security of the wireless network itself as well as any hardening that has been implemented to prevent network propagation in the event of a wireless compromise.

Security Testing Methodology Summary

Encryption Level

Not all available encryption options offer the same level of protection. For example, so called “Wired Equivalent Privacy” (WEP) encryption is effectively completely broken and can be trivial to access. The encryption level of the network will be assessed for known cryptographic weaknesses.

Username Disclosure

Wireless clients configured with enterprise security may disclose the username when connecting to an access point, these usernames can be gathered to allow for a later password bruteforce attack.

Rogue Access Point Protection

For protocols such as EAP-MSCHAPv2 and EAP-TTLS it may be possible to set up a malicious access point which accepts EAP authentication, and if the device or user enters their credentials they can be captured.

These networks should be protected by a trusted X.509 certificate, although an attacker may be able to use an illegitimate certificate (such as a self-signed one) and the user may ignore any security warnings, connecting to the malicious network.

Host Isolation

Wireless networks should be configured to prevent wireless clients from communicating with each other, instead only allowing devices to connect to the network to access resources. This protection significantly reduces the attack surface of the target network and may prevent network propagation and privilege escalation attacks.

Network Access Control

Wireless networks may utilise “Enterprise” wireless security. These networks are protected with an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) for example EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAP (EAP-MSCHAPv2).

These protocols allow integration of the wireless network with other authentication systems such as Active Directory, which may mitigate the difficulty of revoking a user’s access to the wireless network but introduces the additional risk of weak passwords allowing network access.

Network Segmentation

Due to the increased risk of wireless connection, it is recommended that wireless networks are segmented from other areas of the corporate network and that strict network filters are in place to prevent network propagation if a wireless network or client is compromised.

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