Overview

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This course provides a comprehensive foundation for success in working with WLAN technology, making it ideal for anyone seeking to build practical skills in wireless networking. You’ll not only learn the essentials of RF technologies, such as frequencies and antenna types, but also discover how to address the real-world challenges encountered in diverse installation environments. What sets this course apart is its strong focus on security—a critical concern as wireless networks become frequent targets for sophisticated cyber threats like ransomware. You’ll gain hands-on experience using common tools to assess Wi-Fi vulnerabilities and learn how to deploy advanced hardware and software solutions to protect your network. The course covers enterprise-grade security frameworks such as IEEE 802.1X, EAP authentication, and the latest WPA standards, ensuring you are prepared to secure both internal and guest access without compromising organizational integrity. By understanding the latest trends in attacks and insider threats, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and skills to safeguard your wireless enterprise in today’s evolving threat landscape.

Syllabus

Basic WLAN Security

When you transmit a wireless signal, you broadcast it to the world. The signal can propagate for quite some distance. You do not know who is listening or who is trying to connect to your network. Businesses worldwide risk billions of dollars every year due to security breaches, ransomware, and other network attacks. In the past, malware typically did not deny access to systems or destroy data. Instead, attackers primarily tried to steal information and maintain long-term access to the systems and resources of their victims. Ransomware has changed the game from stealthy undetected access to extortion. As a result, security is of the utmost importance, especially if the network carries confidential material. This course provides you with common tools to assess Wi-Fi vulnerabilities as well as hardware and software technologies to protect and secure the wireless network.

Advanced WLAN Security

In June 2021, the meat supplier JBS USA paid an $11 million ransom in response to a cyberattack that led to the shutdown of its entire US beef processing operation. The US government has attributed the ransomware attack to REvil, a criminal gang believed to be based in Russia or Eastern Europe. Every single business or person who pays to recover their files makes this payment directly to the attackers. The new emergence of anonymous currencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple gives attackers an easy way to profit with relatively low risk, making ransomware highly lucrative and funding the development of the next generation of ransomware. As you start to consider the serious security requirements for the wireless enterprise, an enterprise-grade level of security becomes essential. Two fundamental enterprise-grade security systems are IEEE 802.1X and EAP. This course examines the IEEE 802.1X and EAP framework, EAP authentication, and WPA, WPA2, and WPA3 security.

Configuring WLAN Security

One of the challenges in a wireless environment is security. One aspect of security is providing secure guest access. Guests must be able to access the wireless network easily, without compromising the security of the corporate network. For this reason, wireless guest access is segmented into Internet-only access. If a malicious actor is an insider, they might employ similar methods as an external attacker. Or they might abuse privileged access to data, for example, by stealing a colleague's legitimate login credentials to access sensitive files from a cloud-based system. An insider might send the compromised information to their personal email address, a cloud storage account, or a portable storage device like a thumb drive. A “negligent insider” can also cause a data breach. This insider could be an employee or contractor who does not follow good cyber protocol in their workspace. For example, using weak and easy-to-guess passwords like 12345. A negligent insider might also download sensitive company data and fail to secure that information on their personal mobile device, like a laptop.