Wireless networks create an attack surface that extends beyond your physical premises. An attacker sitting in the car park with a decent antenna and a laptop can probe your wireless infrastructure without ever setting foot inside your building. Yet wireless security remains one of the most neglected areas in most organisations’ security programmes.
A strong WPA3 passphrase is table stakes, not a complete strategy. Wireless security requires the same rigour and attention you’d apply to any other part of your network infrastructure.
Pre-Shared Keys Are a Shared Problem
If your corporate wireless network uses a pre-shared key, every person who has ever connected to it knows that password. Former employees, contractors who visited for a day, the technician who set up the conference room display. None of those people had their access revoked when they left because PSK-based networks don’t work that way.
William Fieldhouse, Director of Aardwolf Security Ltd, comments: “Wireless assessments consistently reveal that organisations treat their WiFi networks as an afterthought. We find corporate SSIDs using pre-shared keys that haven’t been rotated in years, guest networks bridged to internal resources, and rogue access points that nobody’s monitoring for.”
Enterprise authentication through 802.1X with RADIUS gives you per-user credentials, the ability to revoke individual access, and proper logging of who connected and when. It’s more complex to implement, but the security benefits are substantial.
Guest Network Isolation Failures
Most organisations provide a guest wireless network for visitors. The intent is to give visitors internet access without exposing the corporate network. In practice, the isolation between guest and corporate networks frequently breaks down.
We’ve seen guest networks that route traffic through the same firewall without proper rules, share DNS servers with the corporate network, and even bridge directly to internal VLANs through misconfigured access points.
Testing Your Wireless Security
Wireless assessments should form part of your regular internal network penetration testing programme. Testers will attempt to crack pre-shared keys, test for evil twin attacks, evaluate client isolation on guest networks, and check for rogue access points that shouldn’t be on your network.
Engaging a best penetration testing company ensures your wireless assessment covers the full range of attack techniques, from WPA handshake capture to PMKID attacks and rogue AP deployment.
Hardening Your Wireless Infrastructure
Implement 802.1X authentication for corporate wireless access. Segment your guest network properly and verify the isolation through testing. Enable wireless intrusion detection to spot rogue access points. Disable WPS on every access point. And rotate any pre-shared keys regularly if you can’t migrate to enterprise authentication immediately.
Your wireless network is a door into your organisation. Make sure it’s a door with a proper lock, not one propped open with a welcome mat.
