Wireless Network Security/Securitatea Rețelelor Wireless
Wireless Network Security
Through security a network is the ability of an IT system to withstand malicious attacks that compromise the integrity, confidentiality and authenticity of data and services.
The term WIFI is a set of network technologies that allow wireless access between devices. WLAN is integrated into a wired LAN connected to the Internet (wireless router).
WLAN is constantly evolving and the standardization body dealing with this is IEEE (802.11), the most common standard in Europe.
Among the latest technologies used on the commercial market are 802.11n, with a 2.4GHz and 5GHz dual band that supports data transfer up to 300 Mbit / s (theoretically 600Mbit / sec) and 802.11ac with a band of 5GHz which allows data transfer up to 1.3Gbit / s (theoretically 3.5Gbit / s). Other technologies are: 801.11ad / ah / ai / aj / aq / ax / ay and 802.11be.
Access to a wireless network that does not implement authentication and / or encryption is an open network to which all users in the radio broadcast coverage area can connect. Because the network is available to all information transmitted (such as log data - has) can be intercepted and stolen by malicious people FAC harmful. To keep your Internet connection secure with a wireless router, use one of the security features available at the time of setup.
How to secure wireless networks is done in 2 steps:
- Authentication - verification procedure for the device that wants to authenticate if it is authorized.
- Cryptography - procedure through which information is transmitted only by persons holding a cryptographic key (symmetrical or asymmetric).
Cryptography is science through through which mathematical models for data transformation are used. Its purpose is to ensure confidentiality (no one can read the message except the recipient), integrity (protection of data against unauthorized manipulation) and authentication (possibility of source identification) of data [1].
The security of a wireless network can be done using the encryption area. Through it, networks can be secured by accessing the password. Secure the network / router can be done in two ways: WEP and WPA [2].
1. WEP (Wired equivalent Privacy) - is a security standard that uses a static key from 64 bit to 128 for encryption and offers two types of authentication:
a. The Open System is not authenticated and can be accessed by anyone in the network coverage area.
b. Shared key - Authentication is only based on a key available to customers.
2. WPA and WPA2 (WiFi Protect Access ) - is a standard through which AP customers are authenticated . WPA security is an enhancement to WEP. The name of this security method can also be WPA-PSK (WPA Pre- Shared - Key), namely WPA security consists of a single password used by all users to connect to the wireless router [3]. In this method of security can be used one of two methods of encryption password as follows:
a. TKIP - Temporal Key Integrity Protocol - method implemented for the first time in WPA, having the intermediate role of replacing WEP security without requiring hardware replacement [4]. This method consists in encrypting data packets with a single encryption key [5].
b. AES - Advanced Encryption Standard [6] or the Rijndael method - is a much more powerful data encryption method introduced with the appearance of the WPA2 security method (an improvement to the first WPA variant). This method uses a 28, 192 or 256 bit length key with a long length, making it much harder to break [7]
Of the two security methods listed above, the recommended securing wireless router- s is using WPA 2 encryption type as AES (available with newer router that supports this type) or TKIP (for routers older than AES).
Other additional security measures that can be used are:
- Reducing signal strength;
- Disabling wireless web visibility (the SSID) - Wireless can not be found in the search list of WiFi networks but can also be entered manually;
- Using WPA-PSK with AES encryption if the generation of routers supports this type;
- Granting permissions to connect devices, or banning them from connecting to the router through MAC address filtering;
- Frequent password change to your WiFi device.
Conclusions
C1] To maintain the online security of devices connected to a router, authentication is secured to it.
C2] Using a WPA2 secure encryption method with AES encryption is recommended because it is much safer to authenticate because of the length of the non-erasable encryption key.
C3] Supplementation securing router - s by using alternative methods (disable SSID visibility, allow or exclude the connection of devices based on MAC address).
Bibliography
1. https://www.academia.edu/3643599/46346910-Enache-Andreea-Securitatea-Retelelor-Wireless
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_Key_Integrity_Protocol
5. https://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/TKIP
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard