Monday, September 15, 2008

Tips to protect your WiFi from hackers


It could happen to any one of us. Wake up one morning to discover 

that the Indian 

Mujahideen has hacked into our Internet account and sent out a 

chilling mail claiming

 responsibility for a terror attack on the nation.

The e-mails sent out in the aftermath of the
 Delhi and Ahmedabad 

blasts reveal that

 the Indian Mujhahideen hacked into unsecure WiFi networks to 

send out the terror 

e-mail.

While this trend may continue thanks to the number of IT

 professionals on the 

Students Islamic Movement of India/Indian Mujahideen rolls, 

it is up to us to 

ensure that we take utmost care while using the Internet.

Sameer Shekle, co-founder and COO, Aujas Networks, 

a digital security services 

provider, says Internet users could adopt the following 

methods to ensure that 

s/he is safe.Disabling the SSID broadcast. To some 

extent this makes it difficult for the 

hacker to detect the presence of a WiFi access point.

Enable MAC address filter. Each 

network interface has a unique MAC address, by filtering 

it, one can to an extent control 

which machines can use the acces point.Turn on WPA/WEP 

encryption. This ensures 

that traffic between a legitimate machine and an access point

 is not readable.Change

default admin passwords for access points.Ensure access 

points are placed securely

In the centre of a room/office etc to minimise its signal strength

 outside the office.

Even after following the above precautions, your WiFI account 

could be compromised 

and hence, the things to look at are:

  • Monitor usage of the access point. Have a clear inventory 
  • and knowledge about t
  • he position of each access point.
  • Monitor the usage of the Internet link, to know what traffic is 
  • going out. For
  •  example, some corporate block e-mail providers like yahoo 
  • or hotmail. Hence,
  •  even if the access point is compromised, the hacker may 
  • not be able to use 
  • public e-mail systems.
  • Consider a specific security policy for wireless networks.
  •  For example, most
  •  companies primarily use wired networks in the office as 
  • the primary media. 
  • Access points are used in common areas like conferences 
  • rooms etc. Hence,
  •  strict policies can be deployed on wireless networks as 
  • compared to wired 
  • networks.

Role of Digital Forensics:

Digital Forensics means the analysis of electronic media to

 detect forgery or 

manipulation. It is used to identify possible culprits and also

 to gather legal 

evidence to be used for prosecution.

Digital Forensics is a highly-specialised area and if not done 

using the right skills 

and tools could lead to evidence being deleted or not usable 

in the court of law. 

It is similar to that of criminal forensics and hence needs 

special skills and tools. 

Hence, it would be advisable for companies to understand 

their responsibility and

 the do's and don'ts during a breach.

Public e-mails systems have limited information about its

 users and normally 

provide it to law enforcement agencies on special request.

 This information is

 picked up during e-mail ID creation, usage etc.

Most usual information picked up is the source of the Internet 

Protocol, which can 

be masked using techniques like using others' WiFi networks.

 Hence, unless 

e-mail providers enable higher security mechanisms

 like special authentication

 while creating users not much can be done. It is not easy for

 e-mail providers to

 do this as, by definition, these e-mail systems are free and open 

for people to use.

 

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