Improving Security

Networking Terms Node –Any device on a network Protocol –Communication standards Host –A node on a network Workstation 1.A PC 2.A very powerful PC

IP address One IP address for one computer e.g

People Hacker Cracker

Tricks Social Engineering –Phishing – Trash

Making Router safer Traditional Wireless

Turn on Encryption WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) –Used in many routers –Weakness in the implementation (25GB of data to crack) –Still worthwhile to deploy WPA (Wireless Protected Access) –Safer than WEP

SSID Service Set Identifier Needed for communication default name for each manufacturer Measures –Change the default name –Stop broadcasting

Admin Account Default name and password Measures: –Change account name and password

DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Assign IP address to each PC Measures: –Disable DHCP –Assign IP addresses manually –Enable IP filtering (if available)

MAC (Media Access Control) Unique MAC address for each LAN card Measures: –Accept computers with approved MAC addresses only

Other measures (for advanced users) Setting minimum connection speed Adjust power of radio signal

Wardriving Driving around to detect access points Facilities needed: –Notebook PC with wireless LAN card –A high gain antenna (optional) –Wardriving software

Encryption Cipher –Encrypt data Plaintext Ciphertext Encryption key

Public key cryptography Asymmetric key cryptography Consists of –One public key –One private key

Hybrid system One key system Public key system

Digital signatures A message has not been modified

Digital certificate Prove the identity of a sender Issued by certificate authority (CA)

Method to identify Challenge response