Wireless LAN auditing procedure for industrial environments

Abstract

Today's industry is dependent on computer networks. These computer networks are a vital part of how industrial environments operate. They are used for a variety of different tasks. Networks are needed to do everything from operating possibly dangerous equipment, to support employees in their every day activities. Having to support such a variety of tasks means that these networks will need to fulfill a lot of different requirements to function in a proper and safe way. DNV-GL has seen that these requirements are often not upheld in industrial environments. They have therefore seen a business opportunity when it comes to testing networks that operates in these types of environments.

This project focuses on finding good ways to test WLANs in industrial environments. This has primarily been done by testing different tools and methods for assessing WLAN security and quality. Every network in industrial environments will be different. This means that a possible testing procedure will vary from project to project. It's therefore important to define a testing procedure that captures the most important testing aspects. How to define a testing scope and identifying WLAN requirements have therefore been necessary. The methods and tools used in this project try to cover the most important aspects of WLAN quality and security testing that testers may face in industrial environments. The tests and theory that this document contains should provide testers with the means to detect flaws and shortcomings in clients WLANs.

WLAN quality testing has primarily focused on different ways to perform site surveys. WLAN security testing has focused on ways to access devices that are crucial for a companies safety and daily business. The results and experiences gained from this project has been used to create two testing procedures. These testing procedures are step-by-step guidelines that can be used to test WLAN quality and security.