Wireless Vulnerabilities Responses

Provide (2) 150 words response with a minimum of 1 APA references for RESPONSES 1 AND 2 below. Response provided should further discuss the subject or provide more insight. To further understand the response, below is the discussion post that's discusses the responses. 100% original work and not plagiarized. Must meet deadline.

RESPONSE 1:

Considering that there are many security concerns surrounding wireless networks, and many tools are freely available, how does and administrator or even an individual user go about ensuring the security of their wireless network? List a minimum of two methods/techniques, and explain the rational for your decision?

There are so many tools that are available for users or hackers to use on a network. It is important that you as an administrator or a user are ensuring the security of their wireless network. Your wireless network will come with a generic password and username. The very first thing you should do is to change the username and password on your wireless network. You are able to go online right now and look up usernames and passwords for certain types of routers/modems. If you leave your credentials on the factory setting then you could allow for nearly anyone to just look up the login from google and gain access to your network. These people who do not edit their usernames and passwords are often exploited by malicious users who can gather information from having access to a network or they can use their network for personal gain.

After changing the credentials, you should disable non-needed features such as remote management and the WPS button. These features can be easy ways for an attacker to gain access to your network. It is easier to disable these features to limit the ability for attackers to exploit these areas on the network. If they are ever needed, then you can enable them while you are using them, then turn them off again when you are finished.

-Kirk

RESPONSE 2:

There are a multitude of wireless vulnerabilities, tools, and techniques aimed at taking down a network or successfully procuring desired results. Moreover, there is a large number of defense techniques that not only mitigate but can prevent these attacks from being successful on one’s home or professional network alike. In my opinion, two prominent and easy to utilize techniques are encryption and updating. Encrypting one’s data that is on your wireless network is key to providing the initial layer of security. This can be done first and foremost by ensuring that WPA2 encryption is in use at a minimum, although WPA3 is in existence, it is significantly rarer. WPA2 is the minimum because it is the gold standard of wireless encryption that has been defeating hackers for years, the use of this encryption will keep network traffic much safer while in use. Next, updating one’s systems is integral to overall prevention at any level. This is because the simplest and most effective methods of attack are often targeted at non-updated systems. This can be a program or a hard drive or an access point or even firmware- any and all parts of one’s information systems and network must always be updated. This can be accomplished by activating automatic updating and checking periodically that items are being updated as they are supposed to- this can truly mean the difference between successful mitigation or attack. This is the simplest way to prevent a plethora of different attacks.

References

CISA (2020) Securing Wireless Networks. Retrieved from https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/tips/ST05-003