WiFi Manager

A Wireless network operating in ad-hoc mode (peer-to-peer networking) is usually not protected by the security rules when compared to enterprise deployed Wireless infrastructure networks using Access Points.

What are the problems associated with Adhoc Networks ?

Typically ad-hoc networks are established among small number of stations, for a specific purpose and for a short period of time.  Since they are setup as a quick alternative to the infrastructure network, they are usually not protected and generally violates most of the corporate policies.  They lack good authentication mechanism for users to participate in the network and also lack encryption mechanism for data transfer, thus risk exposing important information.  If the mobile clients participating in the ad-hoc network are also connected to the wired network then the entire corporate data is at risk.

What should the wireless LAN Administrators do ?

Wireless LAN administrators should analyze the reason for existence of such ad-hoc networks and should try to shut them down as early as possible.  They should also educate the users of the LAN about the potential problems of operating such ad-hoc networks.  They should also identify the clients participating in the ad-hoc networks and if they are legitimate users, should add them to the trusted list of users.  It is also ad visible to stick to "No Ad-hoc" policy which will help eliminating such risks.

Weak WEP IV Used

Authorized Client Connected To Rogue AP