No ESSID in beacon frame

[Dominique Blas]

Le Mardi 15 Octobre 2002 06:57, Jouni Malinen a ?crit :
> On Tue, Oct 15, 2002 at 01:56:28AM +0200, Dominique Blas wrote:
> > I didn't find any question about that in the archives.
> > So I ask it. Sorry if already posted.
>
> Search the archives for "hiding SSID" or "enhanced security".
>
> > I'd like to know if Prism Chipset / fw offers the possibility to cancel
> > ESSID broadcast in beacon frames as Airnet can do it.
>
> Yes, but ..
>
> > If yes how to activate this feature through HostAP ?
>
> .. it is not available in secondary (station) firmware. Only AP firmware
> includes enhSecurity RID that can be used to configure SSID hiding from
> beacon frames. 

And I suppose that it's not possible (or dangerous for the sanity of the 
adapter) to insert a AP secondary firmware instead of a secondary station 
firmware into a station.

>Anyway, this is not really that much "enhanced" security.
> SSID will still be available in probe requests and association
> requests.. If there are any associated stations, it is trivial to send a
> broadcast deauthentication frame and look the station associating
> again..

Trivial yes but that's a matter of probability and months for now. It's easier 
to listen to beacon frames (a tcpdump or ethereal is enough) that occurs 10 
times per second than generating a deassociation frame. So it is more likely 
that the skills of pseudo-crackers are limited to sniffing than knowing how 
to send a deassociation frame.
But that's a matter of time for the skills to improve.

Thank you Jouni,

db