Unable to connect to hidden Network

[ntuple]

Hi all,

I can't connect to my WiFi network whose SSID I'm not broadcasting, on 14.04 though I can do it from the same box on my Window partition.


I've added the network name and credentials to network manager and told it to connect automatically when available but Kubuntu never does or even shows it in any form on the list of available networks.

is there something I need to do to get it to realize this network while hidden, is available ?

thanks,
R.

[ntuple]

Resolved the issue with this post from several years ago.

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...er-good-how-to

[SteveRiley]

Non-broadcasting SSIDs is actually a violation of the 802.11 specifications. While a lot of wireless supplicants (the client software) can work in such situations, there is no requirement that it do so.

I'd recommend turning the broadcast back on. Despite what some people claim, this does not weaken your security. SSID is a name, not a secret. Wireless networks are protected with the WPA passphrase, used as the seed for generating the session encryption key. Even on non-broadcasting networks, when the supplicant associates with an access point, it announces the SSID in a clear-text association frame that is easily detectable.

There is a lot of bogus security advice regarding wi-fi. I debunked much of it in a TechNet article I wrote in 2008. Of course, a couple people had to argue with me in the comments -- some people just can't seem to shake their love of "feeling more secure." Here's what I wrote back to one:

Let's define what "increase security" means. I'll use two definitions:

• Reduce the attack surface by eliminating additional potential targets of intrusion
• Eliminate a vulnerability or reduce the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited

When you secure a wireless network with WPA2 using RADIUS or a strong pre-shared key, you have secured that network against all known threats. It is completely unnecessary to hide SSIDs and filter MAC addresses at this point: these additional efforts do not increase security beyond what you've done with WPA2.

And as I have said before, you aren't really hiding anything with these approaches. SSIDs are available in clear-text in 802.11 association frames even if the access points aren't broadcasting their SSIDs. And MAC addresses are always clear-text and are unsigned, therefore they can be spoofed and you'll never know it.

Just because you can do a thing that smells like security, it doesn't mean that you're actually reducing threats.