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19 June 2005

Wi-Fi Firefly web site launched.

Is your wireless network secure?

Over the past few years, the cost of wireless networking equipment has fallen drastically. This has allowed many people to enjoy the freedom and convenience of a wireless network, such as browsing the Internet on a laptop while watching TV in their living room.

There are many different companies that provide wireless networking equipment at affordable prices, and these companies have worked hard to make their equipment easy to install and configure. Nearly anyone that can use a computer can follow the step-by-step instructions and within minutes they are sharing their broadband connection with every computer in their house.

Unfortunately, the step-by-step instructions provided by nearly all of the major manufacturers leave out one small detail - security. In order to ensure that consumers can set up their wireless network easily, without calling for technical support, the steps needed to protect the network are simply left out of the instructions, or are glossed over by providing the bare minimum in security set up. As a result, most wireless networks are left completely unsecured which allows anyone to access the network and potentially steal sensitive information or infect your computer with a virus.

Doesn't WEP protect a wireless network?

Yes and no. Yes, the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) standard does provide a level of security for a wireless network. All wireless routers produced today by the major manufacturers include the ability to turn on WEP encryption. In fact, most manufacturers include the steps needed to enable WEP encryption in the quick installation guide provided with the wireless router or access point (AP). Unfortunately, WEP encryption is far from air-tight.

Using tools that are freely available on the Internet, a hacker can spend a couple hours tracking the encrypted data being sent over a WEP-protected network, and once the right number of packets has been collected, the WEP key can be cracked in less than one second! Once this is done, the hacker will have free access to your network. This is so easy to do, that the only people WEP encryption keeps off of your network are honest people!

What else can be done to keep the hackers out?

There is no 100% sure way to prevent unauthorized access to your wireless network. For every security scheme that can be put in place on a wireless network, there is a hacking tool available on the Internet that can defeat it, even a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The key to preventing unauthorized access is to combine multiple levels of security so that hacking into your network will take days or weeks rather than minutes or seconds. By having this level of security, all but the most determined hacker will give up before they are able to access your network. These security measures are listed below:

Download and install the latest firmware for your router or AP from the manufacturer's web site.
Change the default password for the router or AP.
Disable wireless configuration of your router or AP.
Change the default Service Set Identifier (SSID) on your router or AP to one that is difficult to guess.
Disable the broadcast of the SSID (if possible).
Enable WEP, WPA or WPA-PSK encryption/authentication using the highest level supported by your device.
Deny clients that are set to use "ANY" SSID (if possible).
Use dedicated IP blocks and MAC filtering (if possible).

If you have purchased your wireless networking equipment in the past year, it probably supports most, if not all, of these techniques. While applying these techniques is a bit of a hassle, Wi-Fi Firefly is here to help! Our technicians are trained to handle all of these issues for you so that you don't have to get caught up in all of the technical details. You can just sit back and relax while we do the hard work. And when we're finished, you'll know that your wireless network is safe and secure.

So, is your wireless network secure?

If you'd like to have a Wi-Fi Firefly technician help you secure your wireless network, simply fill out our online quote request form, and we'll contact you as soon as possible to discuss your wireless security needs.

Let Wi-Fi Firefly be your guiding light to wireless security.