On Tue, 23 Sep 2008, sth wrote:
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Benjamin Coddington wrote:
All of them.. I think its the nature of the information exchange in
WEP.. When a client tries to connect to a non-broadcasting SSID, it has
to transmit the SSID -- anyone listening can then hear the SSID.
Indeed. I was referring (unfairly, of course) to a prior paragraph in
which the article says, basically, that the clients are yarping
constantly for any non-broadcast network that are in their "preferred
networks" list, no matter where they are. Thus, the _clients_ are
constantly betraying the "secret" network, even when they're not
connected to it. (ESPECIALLY when they're not connected to it.)
Hmm.. that IS interesting. Seems like a hard thing to get around if you
want your clients to automatically connect to preferred, but
non-broadcasting networks. If the network is a broadcasting network, then
the client wouldn't have to shout for it all the time.
This made me install kismet, and do some sniffing do see if I could figure
out any home SSIDs.. only seeing one I don't recognize: oroboros2.
Somebody down the hall configure a client SSID..
I'd presume this to be standard behavior (it is reasonable from an
engineering standpoint, after all) across wireless implementations. My
lack of clarity, earlier, stems from a desire to make a quick post.
I think they are saying that 'non-broadcast SSID' != 'secure SSID'.
Exactly, and a sage observation on their part. I was just surprised to
find it in a TechNet article. I've never seen a *nix-focused HOWTO on
wireless networking point this out AND give the reasoning behind it.
(Many of those rely on the old "obscurity is not security" saw and only
pay vague lip service to "sniffers could find them" without going into
_how_.) :-)
Cheers,
- -sth
sam hooker|http://www.noiseplant.com|i am between the internet
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