Securing Wireless Networks

Over the years, wireless networks have expanded exponentially in our society. Almost everywhere you turn, you can find a fast food restaurant, coffee shop, grocery store, or other businesses with a “Free Wi-Fi” sign; but wireless networks do not stop there. Homes all over have also jumped on the wireless network band-wagon; and why wouldn’t they. Wireless networks grant us the ability to abandon the wired connection and embrace the freedom to roam around. With the rise in wireless networks, we must not only focus on the freedom that wireless networks offer, but also the vulnerabilities. Two good articles that focus on securing wireless networks are “10 Tips for Wireless Home Network Security” by Bradley Mitchell and “Exploiting and Protecting 802.11b Wireless Networks” by Craig Ellison. These two articles focus a number of similar approaches to securing a wireless networks, but they also have different approaches. 

Let us begin by focusing on the similarities of the articles. Both articles recommend changing the default usernames and passwords on access points or wireless router because default usernames and passwords are very well-known by hackers. Another common recommendation in both articles is the recommendation to change the default SSID on the access point/wireless router because it signifies an improperly configured network to hackers. In addition to changing the SSID, both articles also recommend disabling “broadcast SSID” because it increases the possibility someone will try to log in to the network. Moreover, both articles make the recommendation to position wireless routers/access points near the center of the home rather than by the window because the closer the device is to the window, the stronger the signal will be reach outside the home. Last but not least, both articles also suggest turning off DHCP on the router or access point and setting up a fixed IP address range instead. This sums up the similarities of the articles, so let us move our focus to the differences.

These articles have a number of differences, but the one that is the most obvious is that the article by Bradley focuses more on wireless home networks, while the article by Craig Ellison focuses more business wireless networks. Other differences in the articles are the WPA Encryption, improper SSID naming, surveying for “rogue” access points, Radius authentication, disabling auto-connect to open Wi-fi Networks, enabling Firewalls on computers and router, turning and turning off network during extended periods of non-use. As you can see, even though the articles had a lot of similarities, they also consisted of several differences. In the end, they both offer a lot of good advice on how to secure a wireless network.

In addition to the similarities and differences between the articles, I also learned a term that I was unfamiliar with. The term I am referring to is SSID or Service Set Identifier, which uniquely identifies a wireless network. As mentioned earlier, the SSID is important because it can attract unwanted attention from hackers who are looking for easy to access networks, especially those that have the default SSID because they likely have the default username and passwords.