WI-FI TECHNOLOGY- PROBLEMS AND REMEDIES
Samir Dutt
Student,4th year, Dept. of E&EC, Punjab Engineering College (DU)
Sector-12,Chandigarh, India, samirdutt.pec@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In spite of its great number of advantages, the Wi-
Fi technology suffers from many setbacks. In this
paper an attempt has been made to identify the
various problems related to Wi-Fi technology and
suggest remedies thereof. The problems
identified/experienced by various segments of
people include health risk from wireless networks;
high power consumption as compared to some
other low-bandwidth standards; easily breakable
encryption code; ineffective security methods;
limited range; neighbouring channel interference,
etc.
At the end, remedies have been suggested to make
this technology user friendly.
1. INTRODUCTION
Wi-Fi stands for ―Wireless Fidelity‖. It is
trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance (formerly the
Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance), the
trade organization that tests and certifies
equipment compliance with the 802.11x standards
[1]. It encompasses a worldwide standard, which
allows high speed wireless internet transmitted via
radio waves with high speeds. It is a generic term
that refers to the IEEE 802.11 communications
standard for Wireless Local Area Networks
(WLANs) [2]. Wi-Fi Network connects computers
to each other, to the internet and to the wired
network. Basically, it is a LAN that transmits data
through the use of radio devices instead of land-
based wires. Theoretically, Wi-Fi can transmit
data at speeds up to 54 Mbytes per second. Actual
data transmission speeds vary, depending upon the
speed set by the Wi-Fi provider, the number of
users and the location of a given user [2].
2. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH WI-FI
2.1 Question of health risks
Wireless computer networks in schools may
pose a significant health risk to children and
staff. Many teachers fear the radiation emitted
by wireless transmitters could be contributing
to poor concentration and hyperactive
behaviour among pupils. One school - Stowe
School, in Buckinghamshire - has already
dismantled part of its wireless connection
after a teacher fell ill, complaining of
headaches and nausea. Wireless, or Wi-Fi,
systems, uses a small transmitter to link
laptop computers to the Internet without the
use of cables. Installed in up to 80 per cent of
secondary schools in UK and more than half
of primary schools, they are also used in
coffee shops, hotels and airport departure
lounges, and have become a fixture in
millions of homes. The system has created a
cloud of 'electronic smog' across Britain,
scientists say. There are fears that the
networks could be doing untold damage to
health. Campaigners claim the level of
microwaves emitted by a wireless transmitter
is comparable to that from a mobile phone
mast. Problems including headaches and
lapses in concentration have already been
reported by those who use Wi-Fi systems
frequently. Some scientists fear they could
also cause cancer and premature senility.
Children, whose brains and bodies are still
developing, may be particularly vulnerable.
Alasdair Philips, of campaign group Power
watch, believes the radiation from wireless
networks is partly to blame for the rise of
behavioural problems such as attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder or ADHD [3].
2.2 Security Issue
If you are utilizing wireless technology on
your network then Wi-Fi security should be
an issue for you. It is all too easy for a hacker
to gain access to a wireless network and cause
untold damage to both your data and your
reputation as a business. The pitfalls are
numerous, but the benefits of understanding
the problems and then ensuring adequate
security protocols are implemented will far
outweigh the potential damage caused by a
 malicious attack. The following points should
help you to understand the risks involved and
how prevention is a far better solution than
cure.
2.2.1 Easy Access
Take any laptop or desktop computer with a
wireless card attached and try looking for
wireless devices within range. If you are in
a busy residential or office area, you are
almost certain to see a number of wireless
networks in operation. This isn‘t necessarily
a bad thing, as these devices need to
broadcast their presence periodically to
allow valid users to link up and use their
services. However, the information needed
to join a network is also the information
used to launch an attack on a network.
2.2.2 Rogue Access Points
It is now far too easy for an area of your
network to be turned into a wireless LAN
by non-IT staff who does not understand
the risks they are taking by potentially
opening up your network to all and sundry.
The cost and easy availability of wireless
access point‘s means that a junior manager
can easily sign off the expenditure and run
down to his local computer shop and set up
his own wireless network.
As you can imagine, this is becoming an
increasing headache for network
administrators, as end users are often
unaware of the great security risks they are
taking. Users rarely bother to change the
default settings of their wireless access
points and therefore non-IT staff in large
organizations is unlikely to do much better.
2.2.3 Unauthorized Use Of Service
It‘s a fact that most access points are
installed with only minimal changes to their
default settings. Encryption standards such
as WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) are
rarely activated, or if they have, then only
the default key has been used on all the
vendor‘s products. Any wireless network
which does not have secure encryption and
access controls is usually there for the
taking. If your network is breached, there
are serious implications which should be
considered. Although your actual data may
not have been compromised or destroyed,
your bandwidth may have been used to
upload and download data from external
sources. As well as incurring additional
charges for exceeding your bandwidth
limits, you could potentially be party to
illegal usage, such as e-mail spamming or
downloading illegal software. This could
ultimately lead to your ISP ceasing your
service.
2.2.4 Physical Security
There are strong comparisons in the
development of wireless security to the
challenges experienced in implementing
mobile phone technology. This also
advanced in several stages and standards,
from the initial analogue, through to digital,
GSM and 3G technology. In fact, the main
threat posed to wireless users is not from
attacks on your network from sophisticated
hackers, but actually the likelihood of
someone breaking into your car and stealing
your wireless enabled laptop or PDA,
complete with your passwords and
encryption details. Rather than try and
break down security codes, it is often easier
for a potential hacker to simply steal a
device that will give them direct access to
the network. This has led to
telecommunication companies investing
heavily in creating unique ID‘s on every
mobile phone and SIM card to deter
physical theft. Wireless technology is no
different, although the security techniques
are less advanced. Therefore physical
security has become the main concern and
the need to keep laptops and other wireless
devices locked away from potential thieves
has become the issue of the day.
2.2.5 Eavesdropping
The 802.11 standard does not provide any
protection for attacks on the passive
monitoring of data in transit – in other
words, eavesdropping. Anyone with a
wireless network analyzer can monitor
packets of data as they are transmitted.
Flaws in WEP encryption did not fully
address the security of wireless networks,
resulting in a number of options open to an
attacker who might want to disrupt
transmissions by transmitting spoof frames
of data.
2.2.6 Spoofing And Session Hijacking
Traditional Ethernet wired networks and
802.11 wireless networks provide no
protection against forgery of frame source
addresses. In other words, data can be
spoofed to appear to be sent within your
network. Spoofed frames can be used to
 redirect and corrupt data. MAC addresses of
wireless stations can also be observed and
these addresses adopted for malicious
transmissions.
Spoofed frames can also be employed by
attackers in active attacks, allowing access
points to be exploited if there is a lack of
authentication. Access points identify
themselves on a network by the broadcast
of beacon frames. If a station broadcasts the
correct indent (SSID), it will appear to be
part of the authorized network. It is
therefore possible for an attacker to appear
as a genuine access point on the network, as
nothing in the 802.11 standard requires an
access point to prove it really is one. This
could potentially lead to an attacker
discovering network credentials to gain full
access to the network [4].
2.2.7 Higher Level Attacks
A successful attack on your wireless
network can serve as a launch pad for
attacks on other systems within your IT
infrastructure. Once you‘re in, it‘s unlikely
there will be sufficient internal controls to
prevent access to all areas of your data. It‘s
quick and easy to deploy wireless LAN‘s,
but it‘s also all too easy to therefore expose
your network to attack. Other networks
could then also be compromised if there is
insufficient security in place. Ultimately,
your own network could be used to attack
networks across the world, which wouldn‘t
win your business any awards in the
popularity stakes.
2.3 Service And Performance Constraints
Current wireless LAN technologies are
limited in the speed at which they transmit
data. The most common standards at present
are 802.11b (which transmits at 11 Mbps) and
the newer 802.11g (which transmits at 54
Mbps). These standards are being developed
all the time and there are already enhanced
versions available running at much higher
speeds than these. The transmission speed is
shared between all the users associated with
an access point and in real terms the effective
throughput is only around half of the nominal
bit rate. This means that a build up of traffic
through use of local applications could have a
dramatic effect on the operation of the
network and that an attack on the network
could well result in a denial of service due to
the limited resources available. There are a
number of ways which can result in wireless
traffic becoming overwhelmed, such as traffic
coming from the wired network transmitting
at a higher rate then the radio channel can
handle. It is possible for an attack to come
from somebody not even attached to your
wireless access point, but by simply
broadcasting on the same space and radio
channel. Even if there is no malicious attempt
to attack your network, large movement of
files across your network can also bring your
infrastructure to a grinding halt [4].
2.4 Traffic Analysis And Interference
Many 2.4 GHz 802.11b and 802.11g Access
points default to the same channel on initial
startup, contributing to congestion on certain
channels. Wi-Fi pollution, or an excessive
number of access points in the area, especially
on the same or neighboring channel, can
prevent access and interfere with the use of
other access points by others, caused by
overlapping channels in the spectrum, as well
as with decreased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
between access points. This can be a problem
in high-density areas, such as large apartment
complexes or office buildings with many Wi-
Fi access points. Additionally, other devices
use the 2.4 GHz band: microwave ovens,
security cameras, Bluetooth devices and
amateur radio, video senders, cordless phones
and baby monitors can cause significant
additional interference.
2.5 High Power Consumption
Power-hungry Wi-Fi adapters can take a big
bite out of battery life, especially for smaller
portable devices such as PDAs. Power
consumption is fairly high compared to some
other low-bandwidth standards, such as
Zigbee and Bluetooth, making battery life a
concern in case of Wi-Fi.
2.6 Limited Range
Wi-Fi networks have limited range. A typical
Wi-Fi home router using 802.11b or 802.11g
with a stock antenna might have a range of 32
m (120 ft) indoors and 95 m (300 ft) outdoors.
Range also varies with frequency band. Wi-Fi
in the 2.4 GHz frequency block has slightly
better range than Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz
frequency block. Outdoor range with
improved (directional) antennas can be
 several kilometers or more with line-of-sight
[5].
3. REMEDIES TO MAKE WIFI PROBLEMS
FREE
3.1 The entire expert reviews done all over the
world indicate that there is unlikely to be a
health risk from wireless networks. When
conducted measurements in schools, typical
exposures from Wi-Fi were around 20
millionths of the international guideline levels
of exposure to radiation. As a comparison, a
child on a mobile phone receives up to 50
percent of guideline levels. So a year sitting in
a classroom near a wireless network is
roughly equivalent to 20 minutes on a mobile.
If Wi-Fi should be taken out of schools, then
the mobile phone network should be shut
down, too—and FM radio and TV, as the
strength of their signals is similar to that from
Wi-Fi in classrooms [3].
3.2 Unless you are prepared to heavily shield the
walls of your office or home to prevent
signals escaping, there is no solution to the
problem of security breach. In order to
minimize the risk of such an attack, you
should ensure you implement the strongest
access controls and encryption solutions
available to you. This will stop your wireless
network from being used as an easy entry
point into your network and ultimately into
your data.
3.2.1 Ensure firewalls are correctly deployed and
use VPN‘s to manage sensitive connections.
3.2.2 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2)
aims to solve the problem of hacking. It has
great security advantage over the WEP and
is now available on most products. To turn
security on requires the user to configure
the device, usually via a software graphical
user interface (GUI).
3.2.3 Network administrators can use tools such
as Net Stumbler as they wander around
their building attempting to discover rogue
access points.
3.2.4 How secure your wireless network needs to
be depends heavily on the type of business
and network you are running. In a typical
office environment, utilizing mainly a wired
network, access to wireless access points
needs to be strictly controlled with strong
authentication. If you have deployed a VPN
to protect the network from wireless clients,
it probably has built-in authentication
already. Of course, if your business requires
the need to provide wireless ‗hot spots‘
such as in hotels and airports, the security
techniques employed need to be radically
different. In these circumstances,
authentication is often carried out via a web
browser and does not require specialized
client software in order to gain access.
3.2.5 To prevent spoofing, technology is being
developed to authenticate valid users of
wireless networks. Without the correct
authentication, potential attackers are
denied access from the network, although
this doesn‘t fully prevent access to the radio
layer and denial of service attacks.
The standard for user authentication was
first ratified in 2001. Currently,
authentication can be used to validate a user
before accessing the network. However
additional features are currently being
developed and are likely to be adopted as
part of the 802.11i standard.
Further developments in 802.1x will ensure
that mutual authentication is supported.
Access point will need to validate their
identity before gaining access to the
network and strong cryptography will be
employed to maintain security over the
airwaves. Until frame authentication is fully
utilized by 802.11, session hijacking will
remain a problem. Until such time,
additional cryptographic protocols will need
to be employed on top of wireless networks.
3.2.6 A number of cracking tools, such as
AirSnort and WEPCrack make some WEP
encryption easy to break, although the latest
software and firmware updates available
from the vendors have eliminated these
attacks. The latest products have helped
increase security and can even self-generate
WEP encryption keys at regular intervals, to
foil even the most persistent attacks. Whilst
vendors try and stay one step ahead of the
attackers, how you protect your wireless
networks is largely a question of risk
management. WEP may be insufficient if
your wireless LAN is being used for
sensitive data and there may be a
requirement for stronger cryptographic
solutions such as SSH, SSL or IPSec. These
technologies were designed to allow the
 transmission of data via public channels and
are proven to give higher levels of security.
3.3 There are now a number of devices on the
market that can monitor and report on the
performance of wireless networks. Whilst
these devices do not help in defending your
network from attacks, they do alert you to any
such problems and also of possible heavy
users within your organization that may be
monopolizing the bandwidth.
3.4 To remove the problem of initial startup
congestion, the users can change the channel
of operation of access points by configuring
the device.
3.5 The Power consumption can be reduced by
use of new technology routers and adapter
chips. Though initially costly, these can
decrease energy costs by reducing power
consumption without sacrificing performance.
These include D-Link‘s Green Ethernet(TM)
technology, Texas Instruments‘ new Wi-Fi
chip, the TNETW1100B, which is said to
consume a tenth or less of the standby power
of competing chips and many other new
products.
3.6 The most important thing to remember is that
the RF radio signals that power wireless data
networks work best when there's an actual
line of sight from the transmitter (the router or
access point) to the receiver (your laptop). In
any real office that line of sight will be
interrupted by walls, floors, bundles of cables,
lighting installations, mainframe computers,
telephone closets, file cabinets, lunchrooms
full of pesky microwaves that interfere with
the signal and all manners of other junk -- but
you can still optimize the line of sight by
placing the router and the access points as
high as you can above the floor and locating
.
them in the clearest and least obstructed spots
you can find.
The next thing to consider is antennas. Most
routers and notebook wireless adapters come
with small, low-efficiency antennas. You can
significantly improve your wireless network's
range by upgrading to directional antennas at
both ends of the wireless connection. Put the
router as close as possible to the directional
antenna to minimize signal loss.
4. CONCLUSION
The whole process of wireless LAN may appear
challenging. However, despite the pitfalls
described here, it is still possible to successfully
address these issues by implementing reasonable
precautions. Whilst network technologies are
constantly developing and hacking techniques are
becoming increasingly sophisticated, it is possible
to keep on top of your security.
The next generation of Wireless LAN‘s is already
being driven by mobility, allowing users to move
seamlessly across a network with their mobile
device, without any interruption or loss of
connection. However, technology hasn‘t yet fully
embraced the facility for users to roam from one
network segment to another. Developments in
these areas are however sure to be just around the
corner, providing even greater challenges for the
network managers who have to make sense of it
all.
5. REFERENCES
[1] ‗Wi-Fi‘ on www.wikipedia.org.
[2] ‗Wi-Fi Alliance‘ on www.wi-fi.org.
[3] Fiona Macrae, ―Wi-Fi internet poses a health
risk for children‖, Daily Mail (Health
Section), 22 April 2007, UK.
[4] www.wifieducationbureau.org.
[5] ‗Wi-Fi‘ on www.dailywireless.com