Home networks are subject to criminal attacks by those trying to sniff informati

Question

Home networks are subject to criminal attacks by those trying to sniff information or exploit the infrastructure. Allowing wireless connections in your router brings heaps of opportunities to a cybercriminal or even a nosy neighbour.

Question

Based on your personal and professional experience, post a list of the general security problems a wireless communication could have. In your post, include the security assessment of your own home network, as well as the prevention methods.

(Wordcount 400 - 500)

Explanation / Answer

As wireless communication does not have specified route of travel with respect to their wired counterpart, it's easier to interfere and steal, modify or delete data that travels through the air. Therefore security concerns are more for wireless communication technology. Security threats are more for military comms, banks and other organisations where confidentiality of messages transmitted is absolute neccessity.

There are basically two types of security threats, active and passive. Passive security concerns include evesdropping or spoofing where messages can be secretly and illegally accessed by attacker and also traffick analysis where attacker can locate the address of the hosts between whom the message is being exchanged and important informations like length and frequency of data transmitted can be made out.
In active attcks, an attacker may pretend to be the legal sender or receiver of the messages transmitted. Also there can be modification of data transmitted in active attacks by interpreting and then changing or deleting the data. In denial of service type of security threat, the authorized accessor is blocked from the object to which it has access.
These days malwares are becoming a nuisance day by day as home networks are also being affected by it. My own home network modem was damaged by certain malware last year which totally disrupted the data transmission. Malwares like 'wannacry' can damage a computer system, routers, satellite communication by planting virus and spywares.

A good wireless network thus should consist of integrity and confidentiality. IEEE 802.11 wireless standard has made schemes for the protection of wireless networks. There are technologies like WEP (Wired equivalent policy), Mobile IP technology, Virtual Private Networks which can provide security measures to wireless communication as and when needed. But means to breach the networks is becoming more advanced day by day and similar efforts are needed for the protection of sensitive data when use of wireless network is becoming part of our daily life day by day.

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