Wi-Fi Security free essay sample

Wi-Fi is the system of wireless connecting devices, which use some radio waves that allow for the connection between the devices without expenses of the cumbersome cable or without requiring them for being facing the other. Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network would provide the computer experts with option to remove the wired network (Wekhande, 2006). Badly secured Wi-Fi networks may be utilized for attacking the networks as well as corporations from inside, rather than about attempting to do that externally by Internet. The purpose of the report is to describe about the Wi-Fi Security. Firstly it discusses Wi-Fi (802. 1) Security. Then it reviews the risks as well as the precautions prior to opening the Wi-Fi network for the others, after that it gives recommendations for closing the Wi-Fi Network to the strangers and how to be alert while sending very sensitive information over the Wi-Fi Networks. What is Wi-Fi Security? Wi-Fi is cryptographic based methods for enabling the security. We will write a custom essay sample on Wi-Fi Security or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Wired Equivalent Privacy as well as Wi-Fi Protected Access security techniques give us security (Rowan, 2010). Privacy: the data that has been transmitted within a network must not be readable to anybody however those communicating. Authentication: Only clients who are aware about shared secret can connect to network. Wi-Fi Protected Access had been initial cryptographic protocol which has been made for the Wi-Fi for enabling the privacy as well as authentication. But Wi-Fi Protected Access had not been fully secure. For rectifying the security issues with Wi-Fi Protected, Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced cryptographic protocol i. e. Wi-Fi Protected Access. From that time the general practice about securing the Wi-Fi Protected Access enabled network with the passwords was discovered of being vulnerable towards the offline dictionary attack. Even if Wi-Fi Protected Access has been thought to be very secure rather than from the dictionary attack, this had been the quick fix to problems in the Wi-Fi Protected Access. Wi-Fi Protected Access has been the subset of Robust Security Network that had been introduced in the initial draft of the security standard which is made through Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) called as 802. 11i (A. K. M Nazmus Sakib, 2011). Wi-Fi (802. 11) Security Nowadays several Internet users have been using the Wi-Fi or the 802. 11 networks for connecting wirelessly to Internet (Kjell J. Hole, 2005). It is a latest as well as available technology that has been used for networking the homes. To connect Internet wirelessly provides complete fresh set of the security concerns. When we have been setting up the wireless Wi-Fi network at our home, we are provided to have some additional security precautions for keeping our computer safe as well as secure (Reynolds, 2003). Several people choose for leaving the Wi-Fi networks open thus creating hot spot in which any random passerby may access Internet. Many passersby do not harm us or to our computers. So we must know risks prior to opening up our hot spot for public. Risks as well as Precautions prior to Opening our Wi-Fi Network for Others Either Hot Spot is Violating the Terms of Service ISP Few Internet providers do not allow their users to share its Internet bandwidth among the neighbors as well as strangers through Wi-Fi. Those prohibitions are a part of terms of service which we have agreed, when we have signed up for ISP service (Sheldon, 2001). Either Computer as well as Network is Secure We should be sure that our password must be hard to guess however it should also be easier for us remember. It is particularly essential when we are having home network of computers. We do not want that people should use our Wi-Fi connection for gaining easier access to our computer. In the Windows XP we can set our password in Control Panel in the option User Accounts (Roeder, 2003). Changing the Default Password of Base Station Several Wi-Fi base stations are available with easier to guess default passwords like the admin or default, thus it would permit the hackers to control our base station settings. We should be sure to replace the default password so that it would hard to guess however also it should easier to remember the password (Ku, 2011). Closing Wi-Fi Network to Strangers When we have decided to keep the unknown person off from our Wi-Fi network, there has been lot of methods by which we may reduce access. We may use single many options below for keeping the unknown person off from our network (Lehembre, 2005). We should not Broadcast our SSID It is very easy to restrict anybody to access our Wi-Fi network however this is very far from secure. By default, every Wi-Fi base stations often broadcast its presence and it is called as a Service Set Identifier for anybody within the reach (Gold, 2011). We may reinstall a base station so that we should not broadcast Service Set Identifier, same as the stealth mode. But when the unknown is already aware about name of our Wi-Fi network he/she may still be able to access that. However such a tactic might keep out lot of random passersby (Wireless Security, 2012). We must encrypt our Wireless Network Password Secure method to keep out unknown person has been through creating as well as encrypting our wireless network password, however it a bit complex process. Anybody who has been looking to access our Wi-Fi network would be required to type in real encrypted password. Several old base stations use the Wireless Equivalent Privacy encryption for scrambling the passwords. Whereas such encryption code would be kept out of a reach of casual hacker, but it is weak against determined hackers. Latest encryption protocol, named as the Wireless Protected Access has come up with latest base stations (Waring, 2007) Configuring our Base Station for simply allowing MAC Addresses of our Computer All the computers have been identified through a unique number known as the Machine Access Code address. We instruct our Wi-Fi base station for allowing access towards some specific computer MAC addresses which only belongs to us. Our base station settings would permit us to type in addresses of all the MAC address which we are willing to permit on our Wi-Fi network (Wi-Fi base stations: Extending the range of your wireless network by adding additional Wi-Fi base stations, 2012). This task requires lot of human effort however this might be lot much effective as MAC addresses are very hard to think of. Sending Sensitive Information through Wi-Fi Networks Even if we have been open or close to our Wi-Fi network, there has been still one more security risk we must be aware about that. If we access the Web pages as well as send any e-mail over the Wi-Fi network these transmissions are sent in a clear. In a clear is the sophisticated as well as the determined hacker which might grab such information from the air capture our e-mails as well as Web page requests. So chances of hacker to capture our transmissions in such a way have been very less. Therefore we must be aware about risk particularly when we have been sending the sensitive information through Wi-Fi network (Helping Define 802. 11n and other Wireless LAN Standards, 2012). We should Send Sensitive Files through Wi-Fi Networks until we are aware about it that It is really Secure We should be sure that our Internet connection has been secured prior to sending sensitive Internet communications through that. Many sites which perform sensitive transactions such as shopping with the credit card or checking the bank account information, we must use technology named as Secure Socket Layer. Secure Socket Layer encrypts the transaction therefore creating a secure tunnel in between computer Web site server (US-CERT, 2006). How we should come to know that whether our Web page transaction has been using Secure Socket Layer? Only best technique has been to look at URL of the Web page. Prefix should begin with https://. Here s means that SSL is secure. Using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) for Securing all of our Wi-Fi Transmissions The VPN has been the advanced networking feature. This has been the technology which creates the tunnel among our computer as well as network server. Several corporate networks are having VPNs for protecting the transmissions (Fleishman, 2011). When we have been accessing our work files as well as e-mail using the Wi-Fi network, we must make sure that our office network administrator has created the VPN for these transmissions. Conclusion Poorly secured Wi-Fi networks might be exploited for the other purposes which may not directly threaten owner of a compromised Wi-Fi network. Wireless intruder may conceal their identity as well as when he wishes, reveal that to the others.