Posts Tagged ‘wireless security’

Business travelers are often putting their data at risk by using public Wi-Fi access points – wireless networks freely available to connect to. When you don’t have a wired network access point, connecting to a wireless network at random may not be your best alternative. It can open you to malicious attacks and to those who track your activities – including capturing private information like passwords.

In order to avoid the risks associated with unknown Wi-Fi networks, there are two solutions you can use.

USB Internet Stick

By connecting a special USB stick to your computer, you can have access to the web in the same way you would with an internet-enabled phone – via a cellular network. Most major cellular providers have one of these options, though they go by many names – in Canada, examples are the “Rogers Rocket Stick” or the “Bell Wireless USB Modem”.

Right now, Verizon is the only company offering a USB modem that will work in 175 countries (Windows only).

The upside: it is more secure than a Wi-Fi access point
The downside: no added security benefits, most USB sticks are often country-specific, making them impractical for International business travelers.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A VPN supplies connectivity to support remote access to the business network. You connect to the internet with whatever means you have available – wired or wireless – and connect to the VPN. VPN technologies use tunneling to create the connection to the business network and uses encryption protocols to provide you with private access both to the company network and through it. This means you can access company data as well as access the Internet through this more secure connection.

A VPN uses various security mechanisms to protect these private / virtual connections. There are lots of vendors out there for VPNs, including the Cisco Easy VPN.

The upside: you connect to a secure network, so outsiders can’t monitor your web use

The downside: there are many technologies involved in choosing the right VPN solution for you. For some tips on choosing, visit here and here.

A guest author at InformIT has put together a list of 12 tips to consider when securing your small business wireless network. The list was put together by Eric Geier, author of WiFi Hotspots: Setting Up Public Wireless Internet Access, a book released as part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press.

The recommended 12 steps to a secure small business wi-fi network are:

1. Use WPA Encryption — preferably WPA2
2. Use the Enterprise version of WPA/WPA2
3. Secure Ethernet Ports
4. Use Extra Encryption (VPNs)
5. Don’t Connect to Other Networks
6. Separate Traffic with VLANs
7. Secure Shared Folders and NAS Devices
8. Verify Firewalls
9. Use MAC Address Filtering
10. Disable SSID Broadcasting
11. Keep Hardware Updated
12. Keep Wi-Fi Signals Contained

Learn more about these 12 steps here

RSA just released the results of their annual wireless security survey. The survey indicates that, with wireless use up dramatically in home, business and public hot-spots, encryption is improving. 97% of corporate access points in New York City were encrypted, up from 76% last year.

The improvements are not universal across major cities, with London having 20% of wireless access points without any form of encryption. In addition, this survey (for the first time) looked at the type of wireless encryption standard used. The WEP standard is no longer adequate, so encryption is not quite as good at this level. Paris has advanced security on 72% of wireless access points, while NY and London had below 50%. The survey also looked, also for the first time, at in-home wireless security. The survey found security on home wireless networks to be superior to corporate networks.

Out of RSA also is a great blog post about the importance of the 5 Ps – Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Worth a read! And to continue your reading, check out our laptop security best practices.

Image: ppdigital @morguefile

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration has released the results of a study on “Hotel Network Security“. The study concluded that US hotels are “generally ill-prepared” to protect their guests from network security issues.”

The study was conducted by Josh Ogle, Erica L. Wagner Ph.D. and Mark P. Talbert of Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research. The study of 147 US hotels found that there was a mixed picture with regard to the security of guest connections to the hotel wired and wireless networks.

Many business travelers use their hotel to continue working on the road, an increasingly common practice with the mobile workforce of today. However, as we’ve talked about in many instances on the Absolute blog, this places sensitive corporate information at risk.

According to the study, some hotels still rely on basic hub technology for their networks, which broadcasts every packet from every user to other users (no security). Others may have upgraded to more secure switches or routers, or may have encryption for Wi-Fi connections. Even with all of these upgrades, malicious lurkers can still intercept guest transmissions.

Highlights from the study:

• 20% of hotel networks use hub topologies
• 90% of hotels offered wireless access
• Out of the 39 hotels that had supplemental site visits, only 6 had wireless encryption
• 21% of hotels reported that malicious activity had taken place on their networks

The report outlines an example of best practice, with the case of the W Dallas Hotel – Victory. They have set up virtual local area networks (VLANs) for all hotel guests, inhibiting attackers from using the most common means of data intercept. The study goes so far as to lay fault on hotels that are not using available technology to protect hotel guests.

A number of recommendations were also made for hotel guests, including having an updated firewall, using the secure socket layer (SSL) protocol for transactions, and using virtual private network (VPN) or SSL-based email.

Download link: Hotel Network Security: A Study of Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels [PDF] Author note: at the time of publishing, the PDF link was not working well.

Via GCN ; Image: Microsoft Clipart

Ars Technica has published a great article about Wireless Security. The article references their past work looking at wireless security, in both theory and practice.

The second piece of work they reference, The ABCs of Securing Your Wireless Network, is a very valuable piece of work. It sets out basic instructions on securing your wireless router and is geared more towards the non-tech crowd, rather than IT security experts. For small businesses, this is a great resource.

For other Wireless Security Basics, check out these other resources:

• Wireless Security: The Basics (CSO Online)
• Introduction to Wireless Network Security (About.com)

—-

Bruce Schneier has also announced that he has a new book of essays out called “Schneier on Security“. Bruce is a security expert I enjoy reading – his articles are insightful but also understandable.