SESSION ID:

#RSAC

Dr. Avril Salter, CCNP-W

What IT Professionals Need to Know about Sniffing Wireless Traffic in 2016

MBS-R05

Wireless Implementation ArchitectSalter & Associates@avrilsalterUSA

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What We Are Discussing

2

Emerging antenna

technologies

Implications to wireless network

security

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Privacy Rights

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)

Protects e-mail messages from interception and disclosure to third parties

Wiretap Act

Federal law protecting privacy of communications

Intercept, disclose, or use the contents of any

Wire

Oral

Electronic communication

Exceptions allows employers to monitor communications in the ordinary course of business

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Protocol and Spectrum Analyzers

4

Protocol Analyzer Spectrum Analyzer

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Which Networks Can You Sniff?

5

Technology

Wi-Fi

Cellular

Bluetooth

ZigBee

Influencing Factors

Different network adapter

Range depends on

Transmit power

Receiver antenna gain

Frequency bands

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Defining MIMO

6

n transmit antennas

m receiveantennas

Input into the RF medium

Output from the RF medium

Multiple Inputantennas

Multiple Outputantennas

+

= n x m MIMO

… …

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Multi-Antenna Technologies

7

Mechanism Performance advantage

Spatial Multiplexing Higher user data rates

Space Time Coding Improves SNR

- Coverage

Beamforming Extends the range where

higher data rates can be attained

Multi-User MIMO Increases throughput

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Spatial Multiplexing

8

3x3 MIMO2x2 MIMO

MIM

O M

app

ing

S1

S2

a11 S1 + a12 S2

a21 S1 + a22 S2

MIM

O M

app

ing

S1

S2

a11 S1+ a12 S2 + a13 S3

a21 S1 + a22 S2+ a23 S3

a31 S1 + a32 S2+ a33 S3 S3

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Spatial Multiplexing

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Number of receive antennas ≥ Transmit antennas

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Implications

10

Are you capturing all the wireless traffic?

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Beamforming

11

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Creating Radiation Patterns

12

In theory

N * (N - 1) beams

N - 1 nulls

g1Ø1 g2Ø2 g8Ø8g3Ø3 g4Ø4 g5Ø5 g6Ø6 g7Ø7

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Antenna Reciprocity

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It is common practice to describe antenna characteristics from the perspective of the transmitter

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Implications

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Are you capturing all the wireless traffic?

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Multi-User MIMO

15

Transmit to multiple users

On same frequency channel

At the same time

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Multi-User MIMO

16

Are you capturing all the wireless traffic?

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Massive MIMO

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What You Need To Know

18

MU-MIMO

Mobile networks

LTE Advanced

Wi-Fi networks

802.11ac

5G

Omni-directional antennas

IoT networks

ZigBee

WirelessHart

ISA100-11a

Wi-SUN

Bluetooth Low Energy

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What About IoT Networks

19

Requires explicit feedback

Size and power performance limitations

Multi-hop mesh for reliability

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Implications

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Over-the-air captures are significantly more complex

Arguably some wireless networks are more secure

Hackers would need techniques that minimize use of MU-MIMO

E.g. Disruptive interference

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What You Should Do Now

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Know the limitations of the antenna technologies you are using for analyzing over-the-air traffic

Understand disruptive techniques and how to identify them

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Thank you for listening

22

www.linkedin.com/in/avrilsalter@avrilsalterUSA