CHICAGO (October 14, 2009) - A security expert from Trustwave, the leading provider of on-demand data security and payment card industry compliance management solutions to businesses and organizations throughout the world, will speak at ToorCon 11, in San Diego, October 23-25, 2009. The presentations will be delivered by a member of SpiderLabs, the advanced security team at Trustwave responsible for incident response, penetration testing and application security.
Rob Havelt, practice manager for penetration testing, will present Death to Obscurity - The Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum Story, which will demonstrate the ease of attacking legacy 802.11 FHSS networks, which are often seen as inherently secure due to the difficulty of obtaining off-the-shelf equipment for remote eavesdropping. This legacy wireless technology is still commonly used in warehousing facilities due to its robustness and support for inventory management equipment such as handheld barcode scanners and printers.
Penetrating an 802.11 FHSS Network is mistakenly believed to be financially and technologically out of reach for the common attacker, costing thousands of dollars and requiring a high skill set. However, using easy-to-obtain tools such as GNURadio and the USRP, Trustwave's Havelt will demonstrate techniques used to penetrate an 802.11 FHSS Network, proving the simplicity with which it can be done.
This demonstration will prove particularly important for those organizations that discount the risk 802.11 FHSS Networks pose to security. These access points, generally connected to the corporate Local Area Network (LAN), if compromised, could expose personally identifiable information such as social security numbers, cardholder data and/or intellectual property. Trustwave has found that oftentimes there are no controls between these networks and corporate LAN environments leaving a large hole for attackers to penetrate.
"Legacy 802.11 FHSS networks can be found in warehouses, retail environments and in corporate networks, oftentimes without network level controls separating them from the corporate LAN environment," says Robert J. McCullen, chairman and CEO of Trustwave. "This lax security can lead to a compromise that would ruin a company's brand and reputation, as well as trust with customers."
"We've often heard security firms advise their clients against protecting these networks because off-the-shelf hardware to penetrate these systems is unavailable," says Nicholas J. Percoco, senior vice president of SpiderLabs. "This presentation will demonstrate to naysayers the ease in which they can be attacked and the security controls circumvented."
After demonstrating the practical attack methodology using real-life scenarios, Havelt will discuss the security issues surrounding these legacy networks and the importance of security controls beyond obscurity and ignorance.
About Trustwave
Trustwave is a leading provider of on-demand and subscription-based information security and payment card industry compliance management solutions to businesses and government entities throughout the world. For organizations faced with today's challenging data security and compliance environment, Trustwave provides a unique approach with comprehensive solutions that include its flagship TrustKeeper® compliance management software and other proprietary security solutions including SIEM , WAF , EV SSL certificates and secure digital certificates . Trustwave has helped hundreds of thousands of organizations-ranging from Fortune 500 businesses and large financial institutions to small and medium-sized retailers-manage compliance and secure their network infrastructures, data communications and critical information assets. Trustwave is headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/.