Issues with SSID cloaking

Many organizations use SSID cloaking as a mechanism to add a layer of security to the WLAN. This technique requires that all users have knowledge of the SSID to connect to the wireless network. While this is commonly viewed as a mechanism to improve the security of the WLAN and is a recommended best-practice by the PCI Data Security Standard, it can reduce the effective security of the WLAN...Early wireless network deployments relied on SSID cloaking as a mechanism to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the wireless network. Even though this was never intended to be used as an authentication mechanism, some organizations have adopted cryptic SSID's that are distributed as shared secrets. Tools such as ESSID-Jack and Kismet observe and report the SSID from legitimate stations, allowing attackers to deduce the SSID and easily bypass the intended security mechanism.

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