INSECURE Magazine Issue 17 – “Building A Secure Wireless Network For Under $300”

June 30, 2008

INSECURE Magazine Issue 17 has been released for July 2008 and contains an article written by yours truly. I want to first give credit where credit is due to Charlie Vedda from the Packet Protector project, who was instrumental in putting some firmware together in order to make this project a reality. This is a project I have been tinkering with for quite some time and am excited to finally have it in print. Also, special thanks to Larry who helped me with some early versions of the project as well.
So, how do you build a “secure” wireless network on the cheap? (Note “secure” is in quotes, and I do the double finger quote thing when I say it too). Well, you’ll just have to read the article I guess, but here’s an excerpt:

“Many organizations are faced with the challenge of providing a âguestâ wireless network. This network is intended to provide your guests, such as contractors, visiting faculty, patients, or training rooms, consultants, with wireless access to the network. In most cases guests will require access to the Internet, with little or no need to connect to your organizations private network. There are many ways to solve this problem, with the best being to purchase a separate Internet service and completely separate it from the rest of your network.”

The article then goes on to tell how to build the network and various other security tips. This is based on many experiences I’ve had both attacking wireless networks and having to defend them, so I hope you can put it to good use!
Enjoy!
Paul

Paul Asadoorian

Paul Asadoorian is currently the Principal Security Researcher for Eclypsium, focused on firmware and supply chain security awareness. Paul’s passion for firmware security extends back many years to the WRT54G hacking days and reverse engineering firmware on IoT devices for fun. Paul and his long-time podcast co-host Larry Pesce co-authored the book “WRTG54G Ultimate Hacking” in 2007, which fueled the firmware hacking fire even more. Paul has worked in technology and information security for over 20 years, holding various security and engineering roles in a lottery company, university, ISP, independent penetration tester, and security product companies such as Tenable. In 2005 Paul founded Security Weekly, a weekly podcast dedicated to hacking and information security. In 2020 Security Weekly was acquired by the Cyberrisk Alliance. Paul is still the host of one of the longest-running security podcasts, Paul’s Security Weekly, he enjoys coding in Python & telling everyone he uses Linux.