Wireless Security: Less Secure Than You Thought
Wireless Networking was designed without a great deal of thought on how it could be secured. The first available security method was known as WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy. Unfortunately due to errors in it’s implementation it soon fell to attacks from determined hackers. As a result it is now considered worthless for any serious security use.
Soon after WEP was hacked, a better security system came along. WPA, or WiFi Protected Access, was a great improvement over the original and it quickly became the choice of anyone who was serious about the security of their Wireless Network.
Unfortunately there is now news that WPA has been partially cracked. This will inevitably now lead to further work by hackers to break this system, and ultimately it may become as worthless as WEP. At this point in time no-one knows how long this will take, but you should consider this issue when choosing a Wireless Network in future.
One final point to consider is this, if you do not know what type of security your company is using on your wireless network, you may be in breach of the Data Protection Act. The seventh principal of which states:
“The seventh principle (measures against misuse and loss of data)
17. Having regard to the state of technological development and the cost of
implementing any measures, the measures must ensure a level of security appropriate to —
(a) the harm that might result from such unauthorised or unlawful processing or
accidental loss, destruction or damage as are mentioned in the seventh
principle, and
(b) the nature of the data to be protected.”
The key term here is “ensure a level of security appropriate”. If you must use a Wireless Network, then you should use WPA2 because this is the best currently available. Using anything less means that you are not protecting the data on your network. Given the latest news about WPA, you should also keep an eye out for it’s replacement!
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