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Check Point: WLAN

We know how much the use of wireless networks to connect computers together is growing; because of this, wireless LANs are being quickly accepted due to the flexibility and convenience they offer. It is important to know that WLANs create a new set of security fears to enterprise networks.

In an article I found online, they state that “Neither traditional firewalls and VPNs nor IEEE 802.11 security standards such as WEP, WPA, 802. lx, and 802.1 1i can protect enterprise networks against over-the-air attacks from WLANs. So, a new and comprehensive security solution in the form of a WiFi Firewall is required to alleviate these new security threats. The WiFi Firewall must be able to provide RF planning, detection of RF activity, accurate classification of WLAN networks, automatic and reliable prevention from harmful WLAN transmissions, and precision location tracking of WLAN devices.”

I have learned that encryption is one of the utmost methods offered to secure a wireless network. It uses a key to encrypt and decrypt traffic between the access point and the device. Anyone with the key will be able to connect to the network. The disadvantage to encryption is if the key is not strong enough, somebody can decipher the key. It is easy to use WEP encryption; it can be done in seconds. I may say that WPA2 is the recommended for encrypting any wireless networks. It is a stronger encryption, which is harder to breakdown.

We may also use MAC address filtering to secure a network. This is a distinctive identifier that programmed on every NIC created. When implementing MAC address filtering; all NIC adapters cannot have the same MAC address. We appoint list of MAC addresses that can connect to the access point. If a MAC address is not in the list, it would then be denied.

Having someone breaking in into a wireless network can have great consequences; once anybody access the network, they will have access to all resources in the network. This...