Security Basics: Re: Conference Wireless

[David Glosser <david_glosser () yahoo com>]

I believe Netopia has one but the pre-printed userid cards can get 
expensive.

There are several "hotspot in a box" solutions which may work (try google). 
Some connect to a printer off the serial port to generate tickets.  With 
others, you'll have to generate and maintain user lists.
You can generate userids and passwords with a sonicwall TZ170(w?) and
export them to a spreadsheet.

I ended up going with a DLink authentication server along with their AP. 
It's a total of 3 devices (the Dlink authentication server, the printer, and 
the AP).
We needed to keep the printer and the AP in different locations, so a single 
unit didn't work for us.
Other things to consider:
   * should each logon be unique or can people share accounts?
   * do you need a "walled garden" where some web sites (local news, 
traffic, etc) are free?
   * give the lawyers a workout. Make sure the logon page has a link to all 
sorts of disclaimers and legalese....  wireless is a shared medium and 
inherently insecure, you should have a personal firewall and current 
antivirus software, you should use encryption, passwords can be sniffed, you 
can get scanned and probed from others, you can get infected with viruses 
just by connecting to a wireless network, yada yada yada.    There are 
plenty of disclaimers out there on the internet to use as a reference.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ben Blakely" <blakely () krellinst org>
To: <security-basics () securityfocus com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 5:00 PM
Subject: Conference Wireless


> Hello List,
>  We are looking for a solution that will allow us to deploy a wireless 
> network at a conference with as little equipment and configuration as 
> necessary, but require a username/password to get on the network (captive 
> portal).  We're not worried about encryption so much as ease-of-use.  We 
> want attendees to be able to sit down, connect to the network, type in a 
> username and password that they've been provided and be good to go. 
> Ideally this would all be self contained in the AP.  I've looked at 
> m0n0wall and other linux based routing software and know that it could be 
> done that way fairly easily.  However as all of the equipment for this 
> conference needs to be shipped cross-country we'd like to avoid a second 
> machine (in addition to the AP) if possible.
>  Has anyone set up something like this before?  I've looked a bit at the 
> Cisco Aironet 1100 AP's which seem to be quite nice, but require 
> configuration on the client side beyond what we want to get into.  Does 
> anyone know of any AP's that meet the above requirements?
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> /bab
>
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Earn your MS in Information Security ONLINE
Organizations worldwide are in need of highly qualified information security 
professionals.  Norwich University is fulfilling this demand with its MS in 
Information Security offered online.  Recognized by the NSA as an 
academically excellent program, NU offers you the opportunity to earn your 
degree without disrupting your home or work life.
http://www.msia.norwich.edu/secfocus_en
----------------------------------------------------------------------------