Wireless network name (SSID): what it is and how it is attacked
The name devices show in their list of available wireless networks.
Also known as
- SSID
- network name
- WLAN
- guest wifi
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
The name is the whole of what a person or a device checks before connecting, and it is the one part of a wireless network anybody can copy.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- A name copied exactly by another transmitter, so devices join the wrong network on the strength of the label alone
- Hidden names treated as a control, when the name is still carried by every device that goes looking for it
- A guest name and a staff name served onto the same internal network by the same equipment
What reduces it
- Certificate-based joining, configured so the device checks the server certificate against a named authority before it connects. Without that check the copy still succeeds, and a stronger password never helps
- Separate guest traffic on the switch, because the label on the device is not a boundary
- Do not rely on hiding a name: it is tidiness, not protection
Where it sits
- Group
- Wireless and radio · The parts of the network that travel through the air, and how far they reach.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- wireless-network-name
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in wireless and radio
- Wi-Fi access pointAP · wireless · WAPLets devices join the network without a cable.
- Wireless controllerWLC · wireless LAN controller · AP controller · cloud-managed wirelessThe single system that configures and watches every wireless access point.
- Mobile broadband router4G router · 5G router · cellular modem · MiFi · dongle · tetheringA box, or a phone, that gives a network its own connection through the mobile phone network.
- Satellite terminalVSAT · satcom · satellite internet · BGANA dish or flat panel that connects a site to the internet through a satellite.
- Satellite time and location receiverGPS · GNSS · GPS clock · grandmaster clock · timing sourceA device that works out where it is, and what the time is, from satellites.
- Bluetooth deviceBT · Bluetooth Low Energy · BLE · pairing · wireless keyboardSomething that connects to a phone or a computer over a short-range radio link: a headset, a keyboard, a car.
- Low-power radio deviceLoRa · LoRaWAN · Zigbee · Z-Wave · sub-GHz · wireless sensorA small battery-powered sensor or switch that sends short messages over a long range: a meter, a door contact, a thermostat.
- Radio gatewayIoT gateway · LoRaWAN gateway · Zigbee hub · protocol bridge · smart hubThe box that turns messages from small wireless sensors into ordinary network traffic.
- Contactless readerNFC reader · tap reader · payment terminal · card terminalA pad that reads a card, a phone or a wristband held against it, usually to take a payment.
- Wireless monitoring sensorWIDS · WIPS · wireless intrusion detection · air monitorEquipment that listens to the airwaves and reports transmitters that should not be there.
The wireless and radio group lists all 11 of them side by side.
Wireless network name on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type SSID. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker