Come October 2006, hackers in New York City’s Westchester County will hit a wall — a firewall, to be exact. A new law, considered to be one of the first of its type in the country, will force Westchester businesses using wireless technology to secure their networks from hackers in order to protect customers’ personal… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Security
How To Keep Your Wireless LANs Safer
It’s rough out there in the wireless world. Keeping things secure should be a top priority for everyone dealing with WLANs. Thinking about security from the outset makes the job easier. Thinking about end to end security makes it safer. Via [computerworld.com]… Continue Reading
Google’s Wi-Fi Plan For San Francisco Stirs Privacy Debate
As with any new project nowadays, privacy is becoming a concern with the Google-Earthlink plan to provide free WiFi to San Francisco. The debate stems from Google’s plan to pay for the service with targeted ads based on the users location. Since the system will know who’s signed on through user ID’s and will also… Continue Reading
Steps For Better, Simpler Wireless Network Security
Siemens Communications has introduced HiPath Wireless Advanced, a centrally managed WLAN security controller comprised of integrated components rather than separately purchased ones. The system, with prices starting at $6,000, includes an intrusion detection and prevention system capable of sniffing out rogue access points and blocking their users. Other companies offering intrusion detection and prevention tools… Continue Reading
Know Your Wireless Enemy
Security needs for a wireless LAN lie somewhere between business needs and business risks, and the challenge is in knowing how far to go and which methods to use. Hackers, freeloaders, and virus spreaders have a multitude of tools at their disposal, and weak WEP encryption doesn’t offer much protection. Newer security technologies can be… Continue Reading
How To Blend WEP, WPA, And 802.11i
In the ever changing world of WiFi devices, some equipment becomes legacy very quickly. There are a great many still useful devices out there that only support WEP. WPA or WPA2 are beyond thier capabilities. So what do you do? Many companies are setting up blended environments with multiple AP’s and networks, each supporting a… Continue Reading
Introduction To Kismet
Kismet, like Netstumbler, is one of the defacto wardriving and wireless troubleshooting apps available for free to the public. Kismet, unlike Netstumbler has a number of features that make it a much more useful tool for network discovery and reconnisence. If you have not tried Kismet, you really should. It’s a great tool to have… Continue Reading
Wardrivers And Leeches And Hackers, Oh My!
With all the press lately about people abusing others open WiFi AP’s, you think security is getting better. Well it’s not. Police are still playing catch up and the law is still pretty vague. Given the consiquences of someone abusing your AP, it’s as good an idea as ever to lock it down securly. Via… Continue Reading
Wireless Cracking Tools
Knowing the tools that attackers could use to attack your network is the first step in knowing how to secure your network. These same tools can be used to discover weaknesses yourself and patch them before the bad guys find them. Via [it-observer.com]… Continue Reading
NSA Awards Harris $41.6 Million For Secure WLAN
The NSA has just ordered $41.6 Million worth of Harris SecNet54 wireless routers. Based off of standard 802.11a/b/g standards, the accesspoints radios are hooked into hardware cryptographic accelerators, turning them into a high level encrypted VPN device. This use of higher level encryption over normal protocols makes the units a bit less proprietary but alot… Continue Reading
Report Finds Friendlier WiFi Security Needed
We all know that WiFi security sucks. Well, who’s to blame. It’s hard to blame users when manufacturers don’t make it very easy to setup thier equipment with security. This is why many people end up turning off the security and leaving it open. It’s easy and once it’s working, it keeps working without worrying… Continue Reading
Illinois WiFi Freeloader Fined US$250
An Illinois man was fined $250 for accessing a wireless network that was not his own. While there have been other convictions fire theft of services, this is the first citation with a fine on record. While a fine for just ‘freeloading’ on a network makes more sense than jail time, it is very hard… Continue Reading
WiFi’s Security Secret – Authentication
Knowing that the access point your connecting to, be it the one in your home or the one in your favorite coffee shop are authentic is a major concern for users. They might not be who you think and rigged up to sniff your passwords, credit card or anything else you might send. Various services… Continue Reading
WAPI Battle Exposes Technology Rifts With China
The problem with international standards is that everyone gets a say in the final product. When China blindsided the ISO with thier WAPI standard as a cometitor to 802.11i, it revealed a few things. First there is a large rift between what China and the rest of the world believes are secure standards, and the… Continue Reading
The Problems With Citywide Wireless
Municiple WiFi seems to have a problem. Millions are spent to set it up, but no one wants to pay to use it. This is the problem faced by some municipal and city-wide network installations. The solution seems to be with third party partnerships that allow for advertising and pay-for-higher-speeds plans, as is the case… Continue Reading