Wireless networks are a fairly new phenomenon. It seems that you can hardly go down any block without running into a wireless connection network connection. Unfortunately, these connections, and if I had to venture a guess, I would say seven out of ten of them are unsecured. This not only presents a problem for your bandwidth, but it also presents a problem with security and may also get you in trouble with the law.
Most IPs only give their customers a certain amount of bandwidth. When more than one computer is connected to the wireless network the bandwidth must be shared between the computers equally, which slows down the connection exponentially. I have seen wireless networks that share three computers and an Xbox running Xbox live. When even one of the other computers is being used, the Xbox live loses its connectivity.
This defeats the purpose of having a wireless network in as the three other computers cannot even be used while one user is playing Xbox live, this in and of itself is a problem. However, if you add even more computers from the outside world on to your wireless network, even the three computers may not be able to connect to the access point, and this is an issue, which I have come across repeatedly.
Now, as to the second issue of security, we find that as people are able to connect to your wireless network, they also gain access to your computer and its files, especially if you have file sharing turned on. Now, this may not present much of a problem to the individual user but for businesses, it is a serious risk and can result in the loss of thousands or even millions of dollars.
The third issue comes when unauthorized persons connect to your wireless network and download illegal material. The authorities will often track down the IP address that the offensive download request are originating from and in general, that is you. Now you may not be guilty of such downloading and you may be able to prove it. Unfortunately, it will not stop the authorities from seizing your computers for a certain amount of time in order to forensically examine them.
This is why it is important that you utilize the WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) security feature on your wireless access point. Another measure of security is to assign each of your computers a static IP address and limit the number of available IP addresses that your access point delivers. This ensures that a computer that does not have the correct IP address will not be able to connect to your access point. Another feature, which you might want to utilize in securing your access point or router, is to do Mac address filtering. Each network card is given a specific Mac address.
You can set your router so that only Mac addresses that are in your network cards can access your router. This is another high level of security, which can help secure your network and keep unauthorized individuals from accessing it. Remember, with wireless networks security is the predominant issue, and it is to your benefit that you ensure that your security is at its highest level.
Leave Your Comments