WIRELESS NETWORK SECURITY

Wireless Network Security

Wireless Network Security

Wireless network is a paradoxical term. The vast network of networks known as the Internet is complex, and it is open. As many have observed, without those two characteristics in place, there is no Internet. But with both present, there can be no perfect security, especially since there are many people on the Internet who have an interest in exploiting its weaknesses for simple amusement, for criminal purposes, or even for waging war (Dyson, 1998).

Wireless network threats take several forms. First, there are hackers, computer-savvy individuals using their skills to break into computer networks to steal or alter data, or simply to experience the thrill of virtual cat-burglary. Next, there are viruses, destructive programs designed to attach to system files or other handy files in a computer; a virus lies dormant until the file is accessed, and then executes its destructive functions. Third, there are worms, powerful programs that usually gain access to computers through the Internet—often through email, sometimes by Web browsing. Many operate autonomously, but some, like the famous Internet Relay Chat-based PrettyPark worm, are executed only on the command of a hacker. Once worms infect a terminal, they usually seek other computers on the Internet to infect. Some worms, like the email-driven Code Red, have been known to cause many millions of dollars in damage, especially to corporations experiencing expensive down time and the destruction of valuable equipment and data (Gillooly, 1999).

Unfortunately, that is no great trick. As writer Kevin Werbach points out, “there are simply too many moving parts” on the Internet, each “dependent on too many layers of software with poorly understood interactions, managed by too many different organizations, with too many points of interconnection and access and too many actors.” The Web, after all, was created to allow incompatible computer systems and operators who do not know each other to communicate. It is a recipe for poor security.

Further, the demands of users for sound Network security and ease of operation are often in conflict, as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) points out. To facilitate ease and flexibility of operation, and to take advantage of database and middleware functions, many network servers—particularly those running on UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT platforms—run massively complex software that is difficult to configure and that often contains exploitable bugs (Cupito, 1997). Says the W3C: “It's a maxim in system security circles that ...