» Wireless

Securing a Wireless Network from Malicious hackers

qwcdirect — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:36:27 +0000

Being an innovative group in the world, the hackers are continually coming up with new ways to break through network defences. But their attacks can generally be grouped into these categories:

MAC spoofing
Hackers use MAC spoofing to impersonate a legitimate network user.
All network interface cards (NICs), like PCMCIA or PCI cards, provide a mechanism for changing their MAC addresses, issued by the manufacturer, that identify a specific device.

Denial of Service (DoS)
In a more common type of DoS attack, the hacker uses a laptop or PDA with a wireless
NIC to issue the floods of de-association frames, forcing clients to drop their association with the access point. Thus the hacker now controls access to the network.

Malicious association
The hacker configures his device to behave as a functioning access point.
When a user’s laptop or station broadcasts a probe for an AP, it encounters the hacker’s device, which responds with an association. At this point, the legitimate user’s computer can be mined for any and all information, including MAC address, SSID, pass codes, etc.

Man-in-the-middle attacks
The hacker sends a de-authorization to a network device, which drops its association to its access point and begins searching for a new access point. It finds the hacker’s station and associates with it, and allowing him to change or steal data at will.

Secure the Wireless Network:

• Adjust the default SSID.
• Use strong encryption.
• Set up mutual authentication between the client and the network.
• Use VPNs or WEP combined with MAC address control lists to secure business specific devices.
• Use uniqueness networking in combination with VLANs to restrict access to network resources.
• Make sure management ports are secured.
• Set up lightweight access points as they do not store security information locally.

Wireless Internet Service without a Hotspot

qwcdirect — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:14:18 +0000

When you are traveling with your laptop, access to internet is essential and most people look for hotspots that allow you to easily use this service. There are several hotspots in large cities but this is not always the case in the small ones.

For areas that do not have hotspots, air cards are now widely used. With these devices, all you need to do is plug one in your laptop. This allows you to access internet using mobile phone services. Air cards are very fast and reliable but the disadvantage is that they are actually expensive.

Another option that you have when you are in an area that does not have a hotspot is to use a smart phone. These phones are fast and have more enhanced features and applications that make internet access so much easier. The only disadvantage you get is that the screens on these phones are small.

Troubleshooting wireless network card

Techie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:34:08 +0000

Sometimes, your computer may get damaged if you pull out the wireless network card suddenly from its port. You must understand that when the card is working, it should not be unplugged because this will not only cause damage to the card but also to the computer interface, resulting in a system crash.

If your computer has frozen because of the wireless network adapter plug, then you should first make sure that you have not unplugged the card suddenly. If you have done so, then you can try to fix the problem by restarting the computer. If you are not successful with this, then here are the troubleshooting wireless network card steps:

• Go to the control panel and open the System Properties sheet

• Click on hardware and go to the Device Manager

• Right click on the network adapters and check its properties

• Click on disable and then plug this card

These steps may prove to be very helpful in troubleshooting your wireless network card. If these steps also are not able to solve your problem, then you may need to call a professional engineer to fix the problem for you.