Product Description

The ONLY official study guide for the industry-standard wireless security certification exam

Cowritten by the creators of the exam and leading experts in wireless security, CWSP Certified Wireless Security Professional Official Study Guide, Second Edition, offers complete coverage of all the objectives for the vendor-neutral wireless network certification that focuses on the technologies behind the brands. The fully integrated study system includes notes that reinforce and teach practical skills, step-by-step exercises, chapter self-tests, and more than 150 practice exam questions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47101 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 636 pages

From the Back Cover
Get official exam preparation for CWSP Exam PWO-200

Authorized by the exam developers at the CWNP Program, this study guide thoroughly covers all the topics on the CWSP certification exam. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons that present specific scenarios and challenging review questions to help you learn the material quickly and easily.

CWSP Certified Wireless Security Professional Official Study Guide will help you prepare for the exam as well as learn to implement the latest wireless security technologies. Get the only official study guide authorized by the creators of the CWSP exam.

Maximize your performance on the exam by learning:

• SOHO, SMB, and Enterprise Layer 2 security
• Wireless Protected Access (WPA)
• 802.11i-compliant Wireless Protected Access v2 (WPA2)
• 802.1X/EAP authentication
• Wireless instrusion prevention and detection
• Layer 3 VPN security
• Protocol analysis
• Device management protocols
• Autonomous, Distributed, and Integrated wireless technologies

Complete Exam Coverage

• Comprehensive details on all CWSP objectives
• Review questions modeled after the real exam
• Helpful chapter summaries and key term lists
• Vendor-neutral coverage of wireless security technologies and equipment

About the Author

Grant Moerschel, CWSP, CISSP, CCSP is an author and co-founder of WaveGard, Inc., an information protection firm that specializes in wireless and wired security, wireless technology training, standards-based IT risk analysis, risk mitigation, and network design.

Richard Dreger, CWSP, CISSP, CISA is co-founder of WaveGard, Inc., and has more than twelve years of experience in the information assurance, security, and wireless LAN fields, and obtained his BSE in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and his Masters Degree in Computer Engineering from Villanova University.

Tom Carpenter, CWNA, CWSP is the senior consultant for SYSEDCO and teaches courses on Microsoft technologies, wireless networking and security, and professional development.

The CWNP Program is the industry standard for wireless LAN training and certification. IT professionals in 86 countries have achieved CWNP certification on how to make wireless LANs more secure, cost-effective, and reliable. More than 20 Wi-Fi industry-leading companies have become technology partners with the CWNP Program. The CWNP Program was created by Planet3 Wireless, Inc. For more information about the CWNP Program, visit them on the web.

Customer Reviews

Better than 1st edition but only average
I would rate the first edition of this book as an F. This edition is better and I would rate it a C.

The writing is unclear and as other reviewers have noted, the book seems to have errors. I would not trust this book to prepare for the Certification Exam.

Here is one of numerous examples of what I consider to be unclear writing. This one is on page 417.

"... but where older hardware can at best support TKIP, that mode can be supported"

Then in the very next sentence it says,
"Note that CCMP is the default method used in RSNAs and must be supported by all devices supporting RSNA."

To me these two sentences seem to contradict each other. Is CCMP support required or not? In any case, I'll go directly to the 802.11i spec for clarification. At least it's free.

Also the review questions seem to be very simple and do not really require any in depth understanding of the material to answer correctly. Sure these questions are easy to write but how useful are they really? Why not some meaty thought provoking questions like those in the CWNA Study Guide by Coleman with the answers explained - no that takes too much time.

Excellent Reference
I bought this book because I thought it was well laid out. I am not likely going to take the test. I believe that it will be a great reference book. My boss is very wireless phobic. This book helped me explain the security and the technologies around WLANs so I could move forward with wireless. I am in a heavy industrial environment where running wires is extremely costly. Since security is a big issue I needed this book to help me understand the differences between wireless IDS and wireless protocol analysis. The chapter on this was very good and clear. Other great parts in this book are how it clarifies WPA1 and WPA2 coverage. It explains 802.11i very well.

I have to say the possibilities of hackers and exploits are frightening. I am impressed how the authors cover these vulnerabilities and exploits and explain how to protect your WLAN. The book raises confidence for sure. I like how they explain using Layer 3 security (IPSEC) vs. WPA over wireless is much less attractive. This really is a very useful book.

One last thing, I am positive this book will help with my SOX audit.

Used CWSP study guide - passed exam this week
I am currently pushing forward in the Security Arean and getting a grasp at a deep technical level of the challenges faced by Security Professionals. With this in mind it would be a mistake not to take a look at wireless and understand the ramifications for implementing it in an organization. Even for a home user a fundamental understanding of WEP verus WPA versus WPA2 is recommended and to understand the ramifications for buying a wireless client that only supports WEP or even no security mechanism at all.

With all the above said, I wanted to study for CWSP and purchased the study guide and learn at a deep technical level wireless security issues. I think its unfair to only label this book a study guide - I have passed the exam and will reference this book many times as I progress in my career. I have other certifications and generally end up throwing the study guides away because they were so focussed on getting me through an exam versus teaching me the entire subject matter arena they are of little use to me afterwards unless I require a door wedge.

I strongly recommend this book not only to those studying for CWSP, or even evaluating whether they want to put the time into passing the exam and see the material they need to digest, but also to those people in the field challenged with supporting wireless infrastructures. I also recommend the book to home users that might be concerned about the possibilities of sharing their Cable Modem or DSL connections with unathorized neighbors or war drivers because they want to buy a wireless router to have the freedom in their homes to use their internet connection anywhere.

The book compliments the certification in quality and accuracy.

David Breslin
CWNA, CWSP, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSA, CHP, CHSS, CEH, Linux+, MOS Master