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Home Networking - Security
Back to Home Networking
You face new concerns with security once you
have a home network, and in particular a network that has high
speed Internet access. The issues are really not new at all.
There is just a higher level of risk involved for data on your
network - like your finances or electronic banking information.
Why is there more risk? It's because cable and DSL networks
are "always on". You don't have to do anything to
start the network like you would have done with dial up
access to your ISP. You simply sit down at a computer and open a
web browser. You should be aware even when your web browser
is closed with an "always on" network, your network is active. Whenever your network is
active, you are vulnerable to attack from hackers and crackers
(malicious programmers).
Hackers often try to break into computers by
looking for services they offer, such as Web servers and file
sharing. They do so
by exploiting something called “well known ports” and
software glitches. You
can prevent this by using a firewall.
There
are many reasons why someone might try to break into your home
computer or network. Some of the jewels of your private network
might be: your personal banking information, corporate
files from work, and your ISP account information.
Hackers may also try to take over a computer to attack other
computers and thereby disguise where the attack is coming from.
Sometimes malicious software may get installed
on your computer. This is called a computer virus. It may
not even require a hacker, it could be carried as an attachment
on a piece of email. Anti-Virus products can be
used to detect and eliminate this malicious software.
A wireless network also adds potential security
software. To go back to the Wireless page, go to Wireless.
Three
important security measures you can take to protect your
computers and data are to install a firewall, to install
(and keep current) anti-virus software and, if you
have a wireless network, turn on and set up wireless security
Firewall solutions
Consider putting a
"personal firewall" in place between the Internet
(your cable or DSL connection for example), and your network.
The purpose of the firewall is to protect your computer from
unauthorized access from computers outside your network. There
are hardware firewall solutions, and software firewall
solutions.
Hardware solutions: The
hardware solutions tend to be a bit more expensive, but are
easier to install, configure and work with. They also provide
better protection for you, because they act as the "machine"
directly connected to the Internet. One additional benefit
of using a router is that they provide a built-in firewall.
Some typical products are:
Software
solutions: If you do not have a router, and
are connecting computers directly to the Internet, you will want
a software solution. With the software solutions, you have to choose
one of your PCs to be the Internet server and install the
software on that computer.
Antivirus Software
I won't bore you with a
lecture on why you need anti-virus software and which kind to
buy. Just know that viruses are real threats to the data on your
computers. Since the purpose of this site is to educate you on
home networking, I want to make you aware that with a home
network connected to high speed Internet access, you are more
vulnerable to virus attack. For the simple reason that you will
find yourself getting more use out of the Internet now that your
connection is fast and shared by multiple computers.
Buy anti-virus software for
all of your computers that interact with the Internet. And keep
the virus definition files up to date. Most software packages
have a scheduler that will allow you to set it up to
automatically update new virus definitions at regular intervals.
It's a good practice to follow.
Wireless Security
A wireless access point is potentially an easy
way for someone to gain access to your home network. This means
that they can use your Internet access and see any
information that is shared on the home network. One step
to prevent this is to set up WEP on the access point. WEP
requires any PC that connects to the wireless network to have
the WEP password set. The wireless access point then
encrypts the data sent over the airways. A further step is
define to the wireless access point the MAC addresses of the
computers that are allowed to connect. Each computer
wireless card has its own unique MAC address. Adding the
MAC addresses is a little more time consuming and has to be done
whenever another computer is given access to the network, but is
adds the next level of security.
There are more sophisticated and complex
solution for wireless security that are used in the business
environment.
To learn about some first hand
experiences in setting up a home net work, go to
Experiences
05/12/2003
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