IT Security Blog

How Secure is your Wireless Network

By

Wireless networks which are normally evident in homes right now does provide a lot of comfort as far as Internet options that we see common these days. The same is likewise present in companies, doing away with the standard cable infrastructure and making it easier to clean up your homes without having to worry about tripping on any cable for that matter.

But while such a privilege is another fruit of technology, duty calls as far as limiting network access. Passwords are still the wise investment for securing your wireless network and at the start it does look like a lot of work and a bit complicated. Limiting access by providing a (Media Access Control) MAC address and disabling the SSID broadcast can help in making sure your wireless network cannot be found or detected.

With various technology means today, practically anyone is trying to look for wireless internet. That is how much Internet is being demanded these days. But this includes both sane and malicious people who may want to give problems.

So for people who want to protect their wireless networks, here are some tips you can consider:

  • Don’t use defaults. It is almost always a good idea to change default usernames and passwords and your wireless router is no exception. One of the first things you should do when setting up your wireless network is to change the default administrator username and password.

    Additionally, most routers have a default name, or SSID, for your wireless network (i.e. belkin54g). It’s a good idea to change this for several reasons. First, if you don’t change it, it will serve as a hint to intruders that you probably left the defaults in place everywhere. Second, once an intruder knows what model router you’re using, it’s not difficult to find the default username/password and to look for known exploits.

  • Use encryption. Every good router supports encryption and if you’re not using it, your network’s security is likely to be compromised. If you have newer equipment, use WPA or WPA2 encryption. WEP encryption is less secure.
  • Use MAC address filtering. Every network card, whether it’s wireless or wired, has a unique Media Access Control address (MAC address). A good wireless router will allow you to specify that only certain MAC addresses be allowed to access the wireless network. This can help prevent unauthorized computers from accessing your network.

    Be sure to read your router’s documentation to find out how to set up MAC address filtering. To find out how to determine the MAC address of your network cards, click here.

  • Use your firewall. Most good routers have some sort of firewall built in and it should be used in addition to a good software firewall that is installed on the devices accessing your wireless network.
  • Disable SSID broadcast. By default, most routers “broadcast” their existence to the world. This makes it easier for devices to detect their presence and connect automatically. But this broadcast also gives intruders a target. By making your network “invisible” and setting up devices that need to access it to connect manually when in range, you can make your network less of a target to less-savvy intruders.

    • Source

    Europe to Enjoy Enhanced Data Service Center Security Courtesy of NTT

    By

    Businesses – especially large multinational companies – rely heavily on data center services. With practically everyone depending on technology to carry on their businesses, this is but part of the natural progression of things. Of course, there is always the issue of security; and that’s where entities like Secode AB come into the picture. Secode AB is a company that specializes in managed security services, or MSS. As a matter of fact, they have been at the forefront of this industry in Europe for many years. They’re known for providing high quality managed data center service, and earlier this month, another big player entered the playing field. NTT Communications, which is definitely one of the most recognizable names in the world of technology, communication, management solutions, etc., has acquired Secode AB. The acquisition was announced earlier this month, although the exact terms have not been released to the public. What is important is that northern European customers who have a great need for security services for data centers will be enjoying the benefits that both companies can offer. With all the resources of NTT backing Secode AB up, businesses operating in northern Europe can be more assured of 24/7 services to deal with the ever present security threats. Some areas that are covered include intrusion detection and prevention, log management, vulnerability analysis, data-loss prevention, anti-virus and anti-spam, managed VPN/firewall, and mobile security.

    This development is sure to be welcomed with open arms by concerned parties all over Europe.? Current Secode SEO Trygve Reinertsen will continue to head the new subsidiary.

    zp8497586rq

    RSS, blogs and security

    By

    RSS icon

    Blogs are popularly being read on RSS aggregators these days. That or via Atom feeds and recently, it has been said that attackers could use Javascript to take advantage of this. According to an article on USA Today, this could be any kind of information as long as it is in this format. In the said article, you could also find out the list of vulnerable readers: Bloglines, RSS Reader, RSS Owl, Feed Demon, and Sharp Reader.

    This kind of news is actually not so new. Mark Pilgrim was one of the bloggers who has written about this before. He even set up an experiment of sorts, wherein subscribers to his blog feed saw a screen full of platypi. He has mentioned in his blog entry that the difficulty with RSS is that there is a lot of arbitrary HTML and it could include Javascript — it could be malicious Javascript as designed by some attackers. Mark Pilgrim even listen down the elements that should be stripped off by RSS readers, just to be safe:
    script tags, embed tags, object tags, frameset tags, iframe tags, meta tags, link tags, style tags, style attributes from every tag.

    If you are always subscribing to different blogs, forums and mailing lists through RSS, you should be careful about it. If there are comments RSS, you could also take precautionary measures by not subscribing to it. It is possible to get attacked through the RSS of comments. Aside from that, if you have set up your own personal aggregator, make sure that you have a ‘smart’ aggregator which strips off the said tags. If you have an aggregator on your computer, check if it is vulnerable. Maybe you could install something else that isn’t prone to attacks via RSS. It is better to be secure after all.

    April 13: Security Patch Day

    By

    Mark your calendars, IT security enthusiasts. April 13, 2010, Tuesday, is the day when Microsoft is releasing patches for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. It is a big day, and it actually has been dubbed as Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday. More than Microsoft, however, Adobe is also planning to release patches of its own. The patches are for Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader. All in all, there will be 27 issues to be addressed by the patches.

    Do we have any details about the patches? People can wait for a couple more days, of course, but for those of you who are hungry for information – as I am sure you are – you’re lucky enough to have someone like Amol Sarwate. He’s the manager of the Vulnerability Research Lab of Qualys. He says:

    “There are 11 security bulletins that affect a range of Windows operating system components as well as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange. This is a fairly large update and will keep system administrators busy on Patch Tuesday. Out of the 11 security bulletins, five are rated Critical and affect components in Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 2003, 2008 and Windows 7. If left un-patched, an attacker could execute code or programs on the victim’s machine and therefore all are categorized as remote code execution.”

    Both companies are releasing the patches through their automatic update features. If you’re the safe kind, your auto updates are probably enabled. If you have experienced extreme slowdown because of these updates before and you’ve disabled them, then better turn them on before Patch Tuesday. You wouldn’t want to miss this.

    New Cybersecurity Chief Chosen By Obama

    By

    20091222schmidtEarly this week, Obama once again made a move that set certain circles a-buzzing. You might have heard of it already – he appointed a cybersecurity chief. President Obama picked Howard Schmidt, who already has a reputation for being good at what he does. He has vast experience both with the government and the IT industry.

    This move is no less controversial than others. I guess it’s always like that when you’re a public figure. You can’t please everyone, and you’ll always have various opinions about what you do. According to Richard Waters of Financial Times, the news was welcomed by security experts. He writes:

    The appointment of Howard Schmidt, an internet security veteran with experience in both industry and government, was greeted with relief among security experts, where the move was seen as a welcome outcome after a seven-month delay in filling the role.

    Like other security industry experts, Mr Silva said that Mr Schmidt’s broad experience and personal contacts in both the public and private sectors would put him in a good position to make the most of the role.
    The Computer and Communications Industry Association added that the new official will also be in a position to represent the administration’s position as momentum builds on Capitol Hill for legislation on cybersecurity.

    Of course, there remains some skepticism as to just how effective the role will be. It’s not even the person that some are questioning – it is the office and the powers that are associated with it. What do you think?

    Ants Versus Worms

    By

    antNot everyone hates worms – the natural kind, that is. I still remember classmates from grade school (even high school!) who grossed out everyone else by eating worms in their natural state. I am talking about a different kind of worm here, though; the kind that everyone hates; computer worms.

    Pretty soon, we just might have ants on our side to combat the threat that worms pose year in and year out. Researchers in the field of IT security have been working on a project to combat worms, drawing their inspiration from the common ant. The Daily Tech tells the story:

    Security researchers found inspiration in the common ant. Describes Wake Forest University Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp, “In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully. They can ramp up their defense rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We were trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system.”

    WFU created digital “ants” — utilities that migrate from computer to computer over networks searching for threats. When one locates a threat, others congregate on it, using so-called “swarm intelligence”. The approach allows human researchers to quickly identify and quarantine dangerous files by watching the activity of the ants.

    The implications are tremendous. Anti-virus software that is commonly used today usually take up a lot of resources, and make computers slow down. With this new technology, we just might see a whole new breed of anti-virus programs. While everything is in the research and development phase still, it does give us a bright future in terms of fighting malware!