Wireless Security Discussion

There are many things to take into consideration when setting upwireless networks for a business. One of the largest concerns issecurity. After considering how big your network will need to be (usercapacity), the type of information that will be passed over the network,and how access to the network will be restricted, regulated, andmonitored. Now more than ever people with high skill level ininformation technology, sporting bad intentions, have become a massivethreat. Some of the precautions that can be taken to improve securityare setting up firewalls, and using anti-virus software, as well asusing two step access protocol such as having a PIN as well as an accesscard that required insertion into the computer system being utilized.

As recently as the beginning of April 2021, organizations such as UCBerkeley and Capcom (the developer behind the games Street Fighter, andResident Evil) were subjected to cyber-attacks. Capcom suffered a breachdue to an outdated VPN, or virtual private network. This ransomwareattack effectively encrypted files on vulnerable devices located in theCalifornia-based North American subsidiary. One of the major outcomes ofthis incident was the verification that nearly 400,000 people’sinformation and/or data had been compromised. In addition, almost 16,500individuals ended up being victims of identity theft. The incidentcould have been prevented if the company had kept better awareness,through the process of software update verification, of the status oftheir network and computer systems. They have since released statementsreassuring consumers that proper security measures and updates have beenmade.

– Aimee

2.)Discuss security considerations when setting up wireless networks for a business.

When setting up a wireless network for a business, you have toconsider the value of your information and how a breach in the systemwould affect your operations and base all of your future securitydecisions on that. You have to consider all of the basic intrusions thatare possible as well as the internal/employee-caused leaks such asphishing, spam, or social engineering.

Discuss the outcomes of the incident(s) you identify and what could have been done to avoid such an incident.

One of the largest data breaches that have happened in thenot-so-distant past is the Adobe breach of 2013. Hackers had obtainedover 150 million encrypted usernames, of that 38 million were activeusers and also gained access to photoshop source code (Krebs, B 2013).At this high of a level, it is difficult to say what would have savedthis company from this incident, hackers obtained encrypted passwords ofmostly inactive users, but the 38 million active users is an alarmingnumber. Ultimately I think it comes down to the encryption technologythat Adobe was using at the time, maybe they had not updated the data ina long time and made the system more vulnerable. In addition, keeping agood password fresh is always recommended to keep you from being aneasy target.

3.)

“Almost every business uses Wi-Fi in some way or another. Whetherit’s to access email via the Internet or process payments, Wi-Fi plays afundamental role in today’s business operations.”(VectorSecurityNetworks, 2019.) For this, there are many securityconsiderations to take into account when setting up wireless networksfor your business, which include removing default logins, updatingfirmware, and changing your password regularly. Personally, I do notchange my password often for my Wi-Fi but I do change my account loginpasswords for bank statements, auto-pay, and financial accounts.

A large wireless security attack took place in May of 2014 on eBay.This attack compromised the personal information of 145 million users.Since the attack, eBay has hardened its operational environment andlevel of security. The attack was executed by using the credentials ofthree of eBay’s employees. I think this could have been avoided byhaving a better system for encrypting employee information to preventthe credentials from being stolen.