I have recently found myself in a position where I have begun to appreciate the importance of documentation. A few years ago I worked in a small help desk, most of the time my duties included password resets and some of the smaller minutiae of IT. I remember thinking to myself, "why would I take time to write down what happens?" As luck would have it, I'm no longer working in that role or environment. Information Technology exists for most businesses to keep things running. However, as I've learned recently IT becomes vital to an organization when it exists to help that organizations meet goals. Technology is about making things happen in ways that enhance those it serves.
OK, so I recently found myself in a situation. I was working on a network and found that several PC's were getting rogue DHCP address. I began to wonder if there was an issue. I asked myself, "where is the AP?" I then wondered if documentation of all the WAP's around was available. After a search I found out that it wasn't. So I did what anyone would do. I figured out the IP of the DCHP server. I ended up checking MAC address tables and figuring out which switch it was connected to. Then since I knew where the WAP was relatively, I used a Wi-Fi analyzer to track down the offending AP and disabled it. It turns out this AP wasn't malicious, but it was something a previous admin had left in place and forgotten about.
While the WAP I found wasn't malicious in nature, I did learn several valuable lessons from the experience.
- Know what is on your network. If you don't have documentation, create it.
- Disable unused ports in rooms. Document
- Make sure you have the capability to track down rogue AP's. This can be as easy as an APP on a phone. WiFi analyzer for android worked for me. (Document what you use and how you use it)
While there are numerous other things which can be done, the list I provided is the bare minimum. It is my hope that this article illustrates some simple documentation, and the benefits of having it.
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