QUT Finds DOS weakness in 802.11

QUT’s School of Software Engineering and Data Communications staff and students have identified a flaw in the protocols that allow the disruption of 802.11 wireless lans using the DSSS physical layer (2.4GHz). Includes IEEE 802.11, 802.11b and low-speed (below 20Mbps) 802.11g wireless devices. Excludes IEEE 802.11a and high-speed (above 20Mbps) 802.11g wireless devices. By changing the setup of a standard wireless adaptor it can generate a signal that effectively causes other devices to think the network is “busy” , therefore other devices delay data transmissions. High powered jammers can disrupt, but are also relativley trackable but the ordinary adaptor is far less so. The flaw was discovered late last year, see the recently Auscert released security bulletin for further details.