Nortel BayStack 650 User manual

BayStack 600 Series

Wireless LAN

Security

September 1998

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 2

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security

represents the current view of Nortel, on the issues discusses as of the date of publication. Because Nortel must

respond to the changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Nortel

and Nortel can not guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This document is for information purposes only. Nortel makes no warranties, express or implied, in this document.

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 3

1. Overview

Many people have extra concerns about wireless data transmission due in part to the lack

of security for wireless voice systems. Although wireless LANs, like voice systems, utilize

radio signals to send data, non-digital wireless LANs are sophisticated digital systems and

can be made quite secure. The 802.11 wireless LAN standard specifies a “Wired

Equivalent Privacy” option for maximum integrity of data being sent over the air.

But there are also other aspects of the BayStack Wireless LAN system that also contribute

to the security of the overall system.

First, wireless LANs are in essence an extension of the wired infrastructure, providing

portable PC users with LAN access just like a wired network adapter. As a result, the

overall password and login in protection schemes are handled by IT and MIS network

administrators for their wired local area networks (LAN) apply to their wireless local area

networks as well.

The BayStack wireless LAN system security can be viewed as five layers: radio design and

operation, WLAN segmentation and identification, over-the-air data scrambling,

authentication of users by adapter MAC address and security over the access point

configuration utilities.

The balance of this paper describes these security features in more detail and provides

recommendations for implementing them.

Sales Training - Field Sales - 1

Spread Spectrum Radios

Secure Radio Links

5LevelsofSecurity

Each AP contains a registry list

of authorized PC Card serial#s

APs: Password protected and configurable

over the wire only

Independent co-located

“logical” networks

Optional data encryption

RSAs RC4 ...

Spread Spectrum Radios

Secure Radio Links

Virtual WLAN Segments

“SSIDs”

Data Scrambling

Unique Keys

User

Authentication

Locking

Secure Radio

Transmission

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 4

2. The BayStack 600 Wireless System Radio Design and Operation

2.1 FCC 2.4 GHz Spectrum

The BayStack 600 Series wireless LAN

systems operate in the 2.4GHz range of

the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, and

Medical (ISM) bands. See Figure 1 for an

overview of the spectrum assignments.

This ranges falls into the Super High

category of telecommunications.

Transmissions in this range are difficult to

intercept or jam as a result of the

extremely high frequency involved. This in

itself presents a certain level of security.

2.2 Radio Design

The BayStack 600 Wireless LAN products use a low power radio design. The BayStack

600 Series radios only outputs 50 milliwatts of power and supports a smaller radio range

compared to other wireless LAN products with more powerful radios outputting in excess of

200 milliwatts of power. For security reasons, this is desirable, because the radio signals

are restricted to a limited range. The BayStack 650’s radio range is about 225 feet in a

typical office environment, while the BayStack 660’s radio range is about 300 feet in the

same environment. These ranges permit each access point to service an optimum sized

cell of users while not posing the security risks inherent in excessively large cells.

The BayStack 600 Series’ low-power radio design also makes the system scaleable and

contributes to better overall system performance. Each access point adds additional data

throughput capacity to the overall system. Because the system supports a smaller radio

range, it allows users to add more access points to increase capacity in the same area

without concerns about airwave pollution. The cellular phone industry has found this to be

important and is also moving to the “smaller cells” concept.

2.3 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum Radio

The IEEE 802.11 Specification defines two types of RF modulation standards for

transmissions in the 2.4 GHz range, both employing spread spectrum technology:

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum. Spread

spectrum technology was originally developed for the military in order to dramatically reduce

Figure 1. Spectrum Assignments

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 5

the ability of an enemy to intercept the signals.

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FH) is a

process whereby a radio transmits and receives

on one frequency for a short period of time

(called dwell time) and then changes, or hops, to

another frequency, transmits and receives, and

hops to another and so on. Nortel Networks'

BayStack 650 products are based on frequency

hopping technology. This technique carves the

ISM band into 78 separate 1 MHz channels.

Every 10th of a second, the signal moves from

one frequency to another, transmitting short bursts of data (see Figure 2.) The choice of

channels is based on a pseudo-random hopping algorithm.

The constantly shifting nature of frequency hopping systems make them very difficult to

intercept or to jam. All mobile units accessing the network must use the same hopping

sequence and must also synchronize their hop timing. An intruder must know, at any

precise 10th of a second, both the current transmission frequency and the hopping pattern

that dictates the next frequency to which the system will jump next in order to intercept the

signal or jam the transmission.

2.4 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Radios

The second type of RF modulation in the 802.11 specification is Direct Sequence Spread

Spectrum. The BayStack 660 products operate within the same 2.4 MHz band as the

BayStack 650 products. However, the BayStack 660 products utilize a completely different

radio modulation technique than used with Frequency Hopping. This technique is called

Direct Sequence. With Direct Sequence, the original data stream is multiplied by a

spreading factor or “chipping code”. This process

actually breaks down each data bit into multiple

“sub-bits” or chips, represented by a “0” or a “1”

within a set pattern and transmits those chips over

a frequency range much broader than the “normal”

range of the data stream (see Figure 3). (The FCC

actually requires that the resulting bit rate exceed

the original rate by at least a factor of 10). A

receiver (having the same chipping code “key”)

would then take in the transmitted range of chips,

reprocess them through a “decoder”, and

reassemble the original date stream. Instead of

using a discrete signal for any given slice of

Figure 2. Frequency Hopping

Figure 3. Direct Sequence

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 6

time for a transmission (like we find in normal radio communications), or even discrete,

narrow signals to which a data stream would “hop” (like in Frequency Hopping), the data

stream in Direct Sequence systems is sent over a wide range within the band. The larger

the chipping sequence, the wider the transmission band over which the original signal is

spread.

The process of spreading the signal over the transmission band has a direct security

benefit. The application of the chipping code not only spreads the original bit stream, but

creates an encrypted sequence. This ensures a greater degree of security. An “intruder”

would have to first establish which part of the frequency range was used for the

transmission, and then establish the chipping code used to spread the data in order to

“decrypt” the original data stream. With Direct Sequence, the transmission amplitude is

also so small that it actually looks like noise in the radio spectrum, making interception

even more difficult.

3. BayStack Wireless LAN Segments

The IEEE 802.11 specification defines the concept of a Service Set Identifier (SSID). A

SSID is a 32 byte string that serves as an identifier for a wireless LAN segment. All access

points and mobile units that belong that a specific SSID are part of the same “logical”

network and can communicate. This can be seen as a “logical grouping” for wireless LAN

devices to communicate wirelessly. Mobile users that do not have the correct SSID

configuration cannot communicate with the other devices using the correct SSID

identification. Given the 32 byte field, there are millions of possible SSID values. This is an

extremely valuable security level.

BayStack 660 Series products do not allow the SSID values in access points to be

changed by mobile units. The access point configuration can only be changed by an

administrator on a wired LAN. In large BayStack 600 wireless infrastructures with multiple

access points, the SSIDs of all the access points would normally be the same in order to

permit mobile users to roam from one access point’s coverage area to the next without

being disconnected from the network. If desired, however, an administrator could create

different wireless domain for the exclusive use of a various groups of users. Each SSID

would only be visible by the users of that “domain,” even with the utilities.

4. Data Encryption

In addition to SSIDs, the 802.11 specification includes an optional security feature to

protect a wireless LAN from eavesdropping. A complex encryption algorithm called Wired

Equivalent Privacy is a technique that uses a 64-bit key along with the RC4 algorithm. The

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 7

data packet is encrypted for transmission on the wireless media, and then decrypted back

to the original data stream by the receiver. Only the destination device has the key to

decrypt the data stream correctly. Nortel Networks will be including WEP security in an

upcoming release of the BayStack 600 Series products.

When data scrambling is employed, unauthorized users with the correct SSID can still not

have access to data not destined for them and will only receive scrambled, unreadable

data. The algorithm is sufficient to make it unlikely for an attacker with a commercially

available BayStack PC Card and custom software to eavesdrop on a LAN, since such a

person would need to guess the one in several million SSIDs and encryption key values.

Real end-to-end security, as with any LAN, is left to higher-layer software, which is

available from third party suppliers.

5. User Authentication and Access Point Configuration Management

The User Authentication feature optionally determines which BayStack 600 Series Wireless

LAN nodes are allowed to access the wired network through an access point. Only

authorize PC Cards whose IEEE (MAC) addresses that have been added to the access

point User List in the BayStack AP Manager utility can access the wired network through

the access point. In essence, the PC Card’s IEEE address becomes a physical key to the

network. In network environments with sensitive data or application files that require

restricted access, User Authentication ensures that the access point will grant access to

only those users whose IEEE addresses have been configured for that access point. Each

access point can be configured to store up to 128 Ethernet addresses. The BayStack AP

Manager allows for the management and propagation of Authorized User Lists across

several access points.

6. Access Point Security

The final level of security is the protection of the access point configuration. Each access

point can have its own unique password. Password locking ensures that an intruder who

gains access to the wired network and the commercially available BayStack AP Manager,

cannot modify settings within the access points, granting himself or other unauthorized

users access to network resources.

7. Summary

If security is critical in an environment, we recommend that the wireless product employ all

the security features available. Like any security measure, it is only as good as the

implementation. Access point password protection and SSIDs should be changed on a

BayStack 600 Series Wireless LAN Security 8

regular basis. Once WEP is released, it should be used extensively. In today’s high tech

society, absolute network security is difficult to achieve. With that in mind, tradeoffs

between security, mobility and productivity should be carefully evaluated for mobile users

of today’s networks.

The BayStack 600 Series product design and network management tools provide an

advanced set of progressive security features. These can be complemented by additional

security software and hardware products if required.

4401 Great America Parkway 8 Federal Street

Santa Clara, CA 95054 Billerica, MA 01821

Trademarks

BayStack, AirSurfer, and Netwave are all registered trademarks and the Nortel Networks logo is a trademark of

Nortel Networks

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