Welcome to Wired Wednesday part of our #SecureChristmas series. Here we share thoughts and tips for staying secure in regards to wireless networks and avoiding some of the tricks hackers may use to try and intercept your data.
Public WiFi networks can present a massive risk to you – especially when the network is open with no encryption – mainly because you don’t know who you is sharing the network with you and what they might be doing on that network. It is important to consider your computer’s sharing settings, firewall status, the security of used web sites. If you want to be sure of a secure connection from a public wireless network – always use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to a trusted location. F-Secure have a great product called FreeDome VPN which can help. If you are running an open wifi network we would strongly recommend encrypting it and providing users with a wireless key upon request, namely because if one of your ‘guests’ does something illegal, you will be liable, emergency legislation forcing anyone whom is operating an unencrypted public wifi network was pushed through UK Parliament requiring that you log all egress & ingress traffic for up to 12 months, read more about this on the Purple Wifi blog.
If a network is open without a password in a public place with no relevant identifying name – do not use it – the free WiFi will not be so free when your passwords are exposed and devices are hijacked. Hackers sometimes run free wireless networks from laptops or mobile phones that are configured to ‘man in the middle’ your data as it goes to and from the internet. Treat wireless networks like you would ask your child to treat strangers – unless you know them, don’t talk to them.
The best accepted method of wireless security is currently WPA2 (Short for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) and replaces WPA1 or WEP (Wireless Equivalent Privacy) as suitable wireless encryption technologies. The older encryption systems are no longer secure, so if you have a 5 year old wireless router, check the security method employed by it.
Certificates are electronic passports for computers that allow the exchange of information securely over the internet – your email server for example. Before your computer can send or receive emails, the server and your machine will exchange certificates that must match. Do not accept or install certificates from unknown sources!
At techrelate we often help clients secure their wireless networks by linking every employee’s authentication to a central directory (active or open directory), which means when a member of staff leaves you only have to disable their user account
to limit their ability to join the wireless network. This saves time and money and means users don’t need to remember more than 1 password – especially when combined with SSO (Single Sign-On) which we talk more about tomorrow.
To ensure a password is secure, use an online password generator for ideas but always customize it before use.
Get tough with your firmware updates – when a piece of networking equipment is installed, your networking professional should always ensure the firmware is the latest revision – this is likeable to the devices operating system, when revisions are released they include performance enhancements and often security fixes which keep your network secure from unwanted visitors. @techrelate our regular clients benefit from our SafetyNet service which checks for firmware & security updates to your internet facing firewall on a monthly basis or as and when the industry calls for it.
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