Level: Intermediate
Avril Salter
Ph.D.
Principal Technologist
Next Direction Technologies
The vast majority of organizations use wireless networking to meet the needs of mobile users, portable devices, and other demands of modern business. But few stop to think about exactly how this technology works. They deploy the latest standard with the highest security settings and assume that's enough. But nothing could be further from the truth. Using the appropriate channel, encryption, authentication, QoS, and other configuration settings makes the difference between a fast, stable network and one that is a chore to use and manage.
IT Pros can choose from a variety of wireless monitoring tools and techniques to manage network performance, but many believe these are the tools of evildoers, spies, or worse. This session dispels the myth by exploring how to use tools like NetMon, Wireshark and NetStumbler to capture, analyze, and troubleshoot wireless problems during everyday operations.
Dr. Avril Salter has been sniffing wireless networks and showing folks how to identify common traffic and security issues for years. In this session attendees will be given real life wireless packet captures and learn how to identify common wireless problems, including misconfigured Windows settings that broadcast sensitive data as well as more expected issues like nefarious intruders, and audio and video streams overloading network capacity.
At the end of this session attendees will be able to know how to avoid the top five most common wireless Windows configuration problems, understand the tools needed to sniff wireless networks, describe the key technical aspects of a wireless network that are essential for configuring Windows computers correctly, compare and contrast radio technologies supported by Windows, determine the right Windows configuration for appropriate yet secure data access, determine the cause of wireless network capacity limitations, develop a solid understanding in how to troubleshoot wireless networks, and apply packet analysis techniques and tools to helps ensure that their wireless network remains fast, stable, and secure.
This is a Bring Your Own Laptop (BYOL) Hands-On Lab (HOL) class. The instructor will provide hands-on experiences during class, which you will accomplish on your laptop. Power will be available in the room. Your laptop should be prepared with a Windows 7 or later operating system that is capable of downloading and running NetMon and Wireshark.