One critical requirement from wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) is that it should offer robust protection against rogue wireless access points. The protection should entail instant detection followed by automatic blocking (prevention). Rogue AP detection should be free from false alarms – both on positive and negative sides.

Rogue AP means unauthorized AP wired to (connected to) monitored enterprise network. In other words, rogue AP satisfies two conditions: i) It is not on the authorized AP list, AND ii) it is wired to the monitored enterprise network.

The first of the above two conditions is easy to test, just compare BSSID of detected AP with your managed AP BSSID list. The second condition is where things start to become interesting. Accurately and reliably detecting if every AP seen in air is wired or not wired to the monitored enterprise network requires technological sophistication. Based on the level of sophistication, three types of rogue AP detection workflows are prevalent in wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) solutions available in the market. Read more…

Hemant Chaskar Wireless scanning, Wireless security access point, ap, classification, connectivity detection, detection, Rogue, unwired, wired