What are some of the reasons why turning off SSID beaconing provides a limited degree of security?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Turning off SSID beaconing provides a limited degree of security. The reasons are as follows:
* Not all access points allow beaconing to be turned off, and even those that do typically discourage users from doing so.
* The steps to manually enter the SSID on a wireless device that does not receive a beaconed SSID are not always convenient.
* Turning off SSID beaconing prevents wireless devices from freely roaming from one wireless network to another.
* When a wireless device is using Microsoft Windows XP, a signal from both a wireless network that is broadcasting an SSID and one that is not broadcasting the SSID, the device will always connect to the access point that is broadcasting its SSID.
* Although the SSID can be suppressed from beacon frames, it still is transmitted in other management frames sent by the AP, and attackers who use wireless tools freely available on the Internet can easily see the SSID being transmitted.
* The SSID is initially transmitted in cleartext form when the device is negotiating with the access point.
* Many users do not change the default SSID and these are well known. An attacker can simply try default SSIDs until a connection is accepted.