Wireless Authentication Gateway HOWTO

Source: Linux Security

There are many concerns with the security of wireless networks and public access areas such as libraries or dormitories. These concerns are not met with current security implementations. A work around has been proposed by using an authentication gateway. This gateway addresses the security concerns by forcing the user to authenticate in order to use the network.

With wireless networks and public acces areas it is very easy for an unauthorized user to gain access. Unauthorized users can look for a signal and grab connection information from the signal. Unauthorized users can plug their machine into a public terminal and gain access to the network. Security has been put in place such as WEP, but this security can be subverted with tools like AirSnort. One approach to solving these problems is to not rely on the wireless security features , and instead to place an authentication gateway in front of the wireless network or public access area and force users to authenticate against it before using the network. This HOWTO describes how to set up this gateway with Linux.