With wireless networks proliferating it
is becoming more important than ever that sufficient security
measures are put in place. And yet many people, especially those
new to the technology or computers in general, are just not aware
of the dangers of not properly securing a wireless network.
Typically ‘normal’ users of products
such as wireless routers dismiss any security concerns as only
really being applicable to commercial concerns. After all, who
would be interested in a small local set-up of two, maybe three
computers? You may be surprised. There are many horror stories
circulating about unsecured wireless networks, and unfortunately
there is a grain of truth in most of them.
The most common form that a danger to a
private network can take is known as variously as ‘War-driving’,
‘war-walking’, ‘war-flying’ or ‘war-chalking.’
This involves an unscrupulous person literally driving, walking
or even flying around in an attempt to find an unsecured wireless
network. Once one is found a nearby wall is commonly ‘chalked’,
indicating to any other passer-by the presence of a ripe target.
The name itself is taken from the act of ‘war-dialling’,
a term coined by the film ‘WarGames’, where random telephone
numbers were dialled in the hope of finding a computer on the
other end of the line.
If a network is found, then the potentialconsequences
can range from the fairly innocuous to the criminal. At the very
lowest level a third-party can connect to the network and access
the Internet connection from the router. If the legitimate owner
of the network is on a capped service this can consume a considerable
chunk of their bandwidth, leading to extra charges being levied
for resources which they never realised were being used. Of far
more consequence are some of the uses to which this stolen bandwidth
could be put. In a worst case example a paedophile cruising around
the area could spot the chalk marking and connect to the compromised
network. Without the knowledge of the network owners they could
connect to any manner of illegal sites, with no record of their
passing traceable to them. Because the trail would stop cold at
the door of the person who has provided them with the free access.
Of course this is a very worst-case example,
and as such very unlikely. Even in today’s climate of moral
decrepitude this sort of occurrence would, we hope, be extraordinarily
rare. But hopefully it will help drive home the point that securing
your network should be taken very seriously indeed. But what can
you do to protect yourself?
I would recommend that all wireless networks should make use of
the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption option which comes
as standard with almost all routers and base stations. Although
turned off by default this feature is absolutely essential. Utilising
either 64-bit encryption, which creates a 64bit encryption based
on a 40-bit key with a 24-bit initialisation vector, or 128-bit
encryption which makes use of a 104-bit key with a 24-bit initialisation
vector, a secure password is created. This password should only
be given to known and trusted wireless devices, blocking access
to any interloper. This, although not secure against dedicated
crackers, provides a more than adequate protection to dissuade
the nosy or the vast majority of war-drivers.
Too few people enable this basic protection,
or are even aware it exists. However in some regards protecting
your network can be as essential as your childhood inoculation
against tetanus. So please, take just a few minutes of your time
to configure your WEP encryption, and to help protect yourself.
For a more in-depth technical overview
of the points covered in this article you can visit http://www.iss.net/wireless/WLAN_FAQ.php,
a very useful, if slightly esoteric, overview of various security
concerns over the standard 802.11 wireless specification.
About the Author
Daniel Robson runs www.shock-therapy.co.nr
where among other things he hands out his freeware, other peoples
freeware, and his views on a myriad of different topics.
