In this chapter, we learnt about WLAN Authentication. Hidden SSIDs are a security-through-obscurity feature and are is relatively simple to beat. MAC address filters do not provide any security, as MAC addresses can be sniffed from the air from the wireless packets. This is possible because the MAC addresses are unencrypted in the packet. Open Authentication provides no real authentication at all. Shared Key Authentication is a bit tricky to beat but, with the help of the right tools, we can derive the store and the keystream, using which it is possible to answer all future challenges sent by the access point. The result is that we can authenticate without needing to know the actual key.

In the next chapter, we will take a look at different WLAN encryption mechanisms—WEP, WPA, and WPA2—and look at the insecurities that plague them.