Review by Jon Janego

What does the average security professional know about wireless technology, and wireless security in particular?  Sure, it’s easy to pwn WEP... but unfortunately, this is the extent of most people’s knowledge.  Many security testing firms even view wireless security as an “afterthought” or a separate practice entirely. 

With the second edition of Hacking Exposed: Wireless, Johny Cache, Josh Wright, and Vinnie Liu aim to teach us all that there’s a lot more to wireless security than WEP cracking.  For those who follow the wireless world, the names of these three should be immediately familiar.  Josh and Johny, in particular, have long been known as thought leaders in the wireless security space and have written or contributed to many of the tools and research used in the field.  And with this fully revised and expanded edition of the book, these three great minds have come together, and the end product is an excellent book that covers some of the most cutting-edge technology while remaining very readable and down-to-earth.  It’s a book that deserves space on any hacker’s bookshelf.

The book is arranged into three major sections.  About two-thirds of the book is dedicated to 802.11 technology with sections dedicated to attacking both infrastructure and clients.  The remaining third of the book is dedicated to three emerging wireless technologies, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and DECT.