[MLB-WIRELESS] FW: Wireless Networking Frailty

[Tony Langdon]

Hmm, someone has evil DoS ideas.  I don't know how much risk there is in
practice, but a few things are on the sire of the WLANs.

1.  Power at 2.4 GHz is expensive.  That said, it is possible to hack a
microwave oven (and probably fry yourself in the process ;) ).

2.  Indoor installations have some degree of shielding (tinted windows can
be an effective barrier to RF - signal may leak out, but it could be enough
to take the sting out of an attack).

3.  Outdoor installations often use directional antennas up high, so the
attacker may have to get into the beam (but if they do manage that, bye bye
WLAN).

As I said, dunno the exact level of threat (and I'm not about to sacrifice a
microwave oven and a bunch of WLAN cards to find out!).

-----Original Message-----
From: gregh [mailto:chows at ozemail.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 23 September 2002 6:23 PM
To: BugTraq - The List
Subject: Wireless Networking Frailty


Hi all,

For the interest of those wishing to safeguard against nuisance causing
attacks.

With the correct apparatus - a directional aerial and any RFI causing device
(such as a radio transceiver) on the correct radio wavelength of the hub to
be attacked can, with enough wattage, cause a fairly quick burnout of the
wireless hub and indeed any wireless transceiver close to it (such as other
computers with wireless equipment attached on the same wavelength or
wavelength close to it). The transceiver used to attack the hub need not be
attached to a computer and doesn't have to be all that powerful but if you
want to make sure of the death of the target, 400 watts directed at it from
the transceiver will do the job.

Now, I don't really know which companies or Govt agencies in, for instance,
NY City would have wireless networking but if the NY Stock Exchange has it
(which I am sure it does), using that sort of set-up should easily bring it
down and it can be done from a fairly close radius. Imagine the NY Stock
Exchange having it's networking go down instantly. Chaos. You could use this
same idea to attack companies and Govt Depts.

So, it would be in the interest of the parties using such wireless
networking gear to find a way to shield the wireless network within the
building in which it is employed.

Regards, Greg.

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