Wireless LAN Security

Wireless LAN is ubiquitous as we can find its use at home, in the enterprise environment, and at many hot spots. Its popularity, however, brings many challenges on security because WLAN is operating in the unlicensed spectrum where hackers can sniff the traffic over the air. This intensive course presents a comprehensive study of the current state of art technology of WLAN security. Dr. Yu, who has been researching on WLAN security for many years, will present the WLAN security as defined by the IEEE 802.11i standard, along with many practical examples of empirical studies. We will demonstrate several tools used at the wireless security labs at DePaul University and present the empirical results from various lab experiments. Our goal is to balance the learning of theories and practicum.

The course starts with the discussion of common threats of security attacks against WLAN, and its impact to the enterprise. To build a solid foundation on WLAN security, we will have an overview of the IEEE 802.11 standard with a focus on the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. We will then present the original approach, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), and the problems of WEP. It is common to use tunnel-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) to address the problems of WEP, and we will discuss the pros and cons of this approach.

The comprehensive solution to WLAN security is 802.11i. It adopts 802.1X standard to address the issue of authentication. For the issue of data integrity and encryption, 802.11i offers two solutions. An evolutionary approach is Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) which is backward compatible with WEP. A better and more secured approach is Counter Mode with CBC-MAC Protocol (CCMP) and it is a replacement of WEP. The course will cover both encryption protocols. Technology alone would not address all security issues, so we will also discuss security policy and quality assurance to develop a comprehensive solution to secure the WLAN.

This intensive course is for network/security professionals who will benefit from the technologies and tools to build a secured WLAN. Network managers will acquire the knowledge to identify the most cost-effective solution from different vendors and could also learn to develop business cases for WLAN. Instructors will appreciate the lab environment at DePaul University and adopt many concept to enhance the networking curriculum. Students and researchers will learn the pros and cons of various solutions, along with the challenges and research directions of WLAN security.

LOCATION ADN REGISTRATIONS

This event will be organized at hotel Cumulus in Seinäjoki (Kauppakatu 10, 60100 Seinäjoki).

Please, register to this course through the Register-link on this page. Fee for one participation is 360e. INFORTE member organisations' staff can participate free-of-charge.
Meal and accommodation costs are not included.

SYLLABUS
The course has eight lectures, and each lecture is 75 minutes with 10 min at the end for Q&A.
1. Course Introduction and Security Threats against WLAN
2. Overview of WLAN (802.11) and Network Security Fundamentals
3. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and its Weaknesses
4. Authentication at Hot Spots and Tunnel-based Virtual Private Network (VPN)
5. 802.1X and RADIUS for User Authentication
6. Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) Methods and Key Management
7. 802.11i Encryption – TKIP and CCMP
- WPA 1.0 and WPA 2.0
8. Security Policy, Quality Assurance, and Course Conclusion

SPEAKER's SHORT BIO
Dr. James T. Yu is an associate professor at DePaul University where he is teaching and researching in the areas of Wireless LAN security, Fault Tolerant Networks, Voice over IP, and XML-based Network Management. He is the Program Chair of the Telecommunications and Data Networking Committee, responsible for the curriculum development of the Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees. He was the director of Network Technology at ARBROS Communications, responsible for network architecture, design, and management. He had 15 years of experience at Bell Laboratories working on telecommunications switching development and information technology projects where he was appointed to Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1991. Dr. Yu has more than 30 refereed journal and conference publications, delivered five networking tutorials at IEEE and international conferences, and received Competitive Instructional Grant from DePaul University in 2006-2007. He was often invited to give talks at the local workshops organized by the IEEE Communications Society. He had industry consulting at US Cellular, Motorola, and Integrated Solutions. He received the MS and Ph.D degrees in Computer Sciences from Purdue University.

BOOK REFERENCES
1. Grant Moerschel, Richard Dreger, Tom Carpenter, Certified Wireless Security Professional, Official Study Guide, 2nd, McGraw-Hill, 2007
2. Jim Geirt, Implemening 802.1X Security Solutions for Wired and Wireless Networks, Wiley, 2008
3. Mark Ciampa, CWSP Guide to Wireless Security, Thompson Course Technology, 2007