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How to protect home or business wireless network?

Wireless Network: How To Protect Home Or Business Wireless Network?

Strong wireless encryption patterns are one of the comprehensive solutions available to protect wireless networks for home and business users. 

Cryptographic algorithms can prevent cybercriminals from gaining access to personal or organizational information by obfuscating the signals sent or received by clients.

In wireless networks, cryptographic algorithms ensure that data is transmitted securely and that cybercriminals cannot access information using techniques similar to man-in-the-middle attacks.

In such a situation, if hackers manage to break into the network infrastructure and capture the data, they will still be unable to listen to the information being transmitted because they do not have the encryption key.
Various encryption algorithms have been proposed to protect the wireless network routers created, the first of which was the WEP algorithm. WEP was one of the earliest algorithms to save Wi-Fi networks.
Still, the
rapid development of information technology made this algorithm’s vulnerabilities quickly apparent, so today, it can be broken down in less than a few minutes.

If you are using an old router that only provides such an algorithm to protect your Wi-Fi network, we suggest you consider buying a new one as soon as possible.

Encryption algorithms for wireless network

New routers, while providing you with more features and speeds, also offer powerful security algorithms. After identifying the shortcomings of the WEP algorithm, security experts proposed the WPA algorithm as a solution to this problem. The above algorithm continued to exist briefly until its vulnerabilities were identified.
Vulnerabilities that allow hackers to break the above algorithm and penetrate the wireless network by implementing a sweeping attack.

WEP is a robust algorithm that cannot be easily broken. This issue caused network experts to replace WEP with a more powerful algorithm called WPA2.
Users can use WPA and WPA2 algorithms in private mode (Personal), whose symbol is PSK3, and enterprise mode (Enterprise), whose symbol is RAIDIUS5. Home users mainly use personal models, and their implementation is not complex.

The user specifies a password for the router, and then every mobile device that connects to the wireless network uses the specified password. When choosing a password, it is important to pay attention to using specific keywords. Network security is significantly improved if the user uses a complex password combination of uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers with a length of at least 13 characters.

If you use words in the dictionary of hacking software or the names of specific people and places, you seriously undermine the wireless network’s security. A strong password can be something like asd&*(BNH8394$). Another important thing you should pay attention to is the connection type. Nowadays, all routers provide an option or button called WPS.

The above feature allows devices that use the encryption algorithm WPA2 support to connect to a wireless network by pressing the above button on the router and the device. Unfortunately, the above feature has a big problem.

WPS is vulnerable to spamming attacks. For this reason, if you use a wireless network in a sensitive place such as a company or a complex with many residents, it is better to disable the router’s WPS feature. The WPA2 algorithm can also be used in enterprise mode. However, some requirements are needed to use the above method.

The first step is to have a RADIUS server or a hosted RADIUS service. In the second step, pay attention to the fact that the WPA2 protocol works in interaction with EAP-TLS. In general, we must say that the main factor that compromises Wi-Fi networks is the man-in-the-middle attack vector.

In this attack vector, network users are directed to a malicious site. In the next step, hackers trick them into entering important information, such as passwords and usernames, into fake pages.

Organizations that use the WPA2 protocol in conjunction with the EAP-TLS authentication protocol will ensure that only authorized employees gain access to the network. The EAP-TLS authentication protocol requires users to use the assigned certificate and password.

Use secure Wi-Fi networks.

Another point we should mention in this context is connecting to public Wi-Fi. While most users find it tempting to connect to a public and free Wi-Fi network, be careful that these networks are not always secure and may be a trap set by hackers.
To steal personal information and bank card information. In most cases, hackers quickly deceive users by creating fake hotspots.

For this reason, our suggestion is not to use such networks as much as possible. Also, if you have to use these networks to enter the Internet and access your user accounts, try to use InPrivate mode, which is located in browsers and deletes information when you leave a site. But don’t try to connect to bank accounts through public Wi-Fi or make financial transactions.

  • In extreme cases, turn off communication options and connect to your phone.
  • If you are not using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, it is better to turn them off. The most significant advantage of this is prolonging the device’s battery life. Also, keep in mind that due to security breaches detected in the Bluetooth mechanism, hackers can attack your Android phone through Bluetooth.

Use strange passwords for the network.

Passwords that different people choose indicate that these passwords are not secure. “We always recommend long passwords, but that doesn’t mean you have to use repeated characters in a password,” SplashData director Morgan Slane said.
As much as possible, avoid using passwords that refer to the names of famous people. In recent years, most users have used words from their favorite movies as their passwords. Always look for combination passwords that consist of characters and numbers.