Re: Hiding SSIDs - Re: wireless is strange
On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 10:13:18AM -0500, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
Eventhough I wrote the paper on the Myth of hiding SSIDs in '03
and
provided the method for exposing hidden SSIDs, many wireless
professionals still push this as a valuable tool to protect your
networks.
You can't kill some memes. And people want a simple answer to complex
problems.
Many automotive companies are pushing for hidden SSIDs in cars to
avoid distracting the driver with connect messages. Hello? What is
the infotainment interface even doing active scans while the vehicle
is moving?
There's a simple solution. Make the display such that the driver can't
see it when the vehicle is in motion. I don't care if it's as crude as
a physical screen that deploys to block the driver's view, or as
expensive as two displays--one for the passenger-side, one visible from
the driver's seat only when the vehicle is in park; or as elegant as a
software-driven restricted view for the driver when not in park (e.g.,
maybe a polarized screen and software modification to the display).
The simple answer is stop the driver from accessing/seeing the display.
The method shouldn't be driven by the usual automotive "save a penny"
mindset.
The SSID is there to share the air. As I mentioned in an earlier
post, there are only a limited number of USABLE channels, so being
able to have some level of coordination can only be done with
visible SSIDs.
I don't know of any WiFi tool that doesn't show all channels, whether
with or without SSID.
that said, a bug is a bug and should be squashed. Unless it is a
feature...
The desision on what to represent a SSID-less channel should be documented.
I don't have a problem with showing "?" if you don't know the SSID;
just
document that's what you're doing.
Cheers,
--
Dave Ihnat
dihnat(a)dminet.com