WiFi MAC header (Part 1)

This video is a part of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) basics tutorial video series. IEEE 802.11 is a wireless extension for the MAC layer of OSI model. The basic function of the access point is to translate the wired frames to wireless frames and vice versa. Wired medium was confined to the machines physically present on that subnet only, but due to the very nature of the wireless packets Media Access Control (MAC) layer should be capable of avoiding collisions and it should provide the security. This video explains different field of IEEE 802.11 MAC layer in detail. It explains the Frame Control word and its sub fields like versions, type, subtype, protected field etc and their usage. The wireless addresses and their sequence is the most confusing part of the wireless MAC packet. This video explains lucidly the importance of the sequence and correlation between to-ds and from-ds fields and the MAC address and logic behind it.

Enable Javascript or Download Flash Playe if you see this!

This video series is a tutorial for IEEE 802.11 protocol suite, commonly knows as Wi-Fi. In this video series, you will find videos explaining the basic 802.11 standard and their other amendments like 802.11a, 802.11g, 80211h, 802.11i, 802.11w, 802.11n, 802.11e etc. There are videos dedicated to security in wifi protocols, the different packets and state machine of 802.11 protocol and many more such things. We have tried to make this video series more interactive than just informative. You will find lots of discussions over the issues in 802.11 and justification for many small features in 802.11. Feel free to pose your own problems in the comment section and we will try to capture them in next videos. This section is currently under construction, so keep watching for new content.

Links

1. Wi-Fi alliance Home Page

2. IEEE 802.11 wiki page

Amit Vartak, 27 is working in wired and wireless security fields since last 3-4 years. His current area of interest includes IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) suite of protocols, vulnerabilities in these protocols and countermeasure for those vulnerabilities. Working on cutting edge tools and technology always keeps him busy. He has contributed from concept level to final prototyping for the presentations in Defcon 2007 (The Emperor Has No Cloak - WEP Cloaking Exposed) and Toorcon 2007 (Caffe latte attack). He holds 2 patents with USPTO (current status: Patent Pending) and a few papers in IEEE journals on wireless protocol vulnerabilities. Prior to this, he was working on MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) and has published a few papers in SPIE and ICMAT. (Yeah… kindda orthogonal fields… but technology really doesn’t limit the talent :) He did his masters in Electrical Engineering from one of the premier institutes in India, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-Bombay) and his under graduation, from University of Mumbai in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. He is currently working with AirTight Networks Inc. as a team lead in technology group since last 3 years.You can get in touch with him at amitcv[at]gmail[dot]com