Samuel Lai Tech Talks

Samuel Lai (Malaysia) IT solutions and news

Oct 09

The trade off of less the wire

USB-Wireless-256x256 As wireless router getting affordable, more people deploy wireless network in their home and office. Although wireless work like magic and enable you to carry anywhere inside the network range, in some scenario it is wiser to connect your computer with wired network cable.

Wireless limitation and disadvantage.

Wireless network (or WLAN, stand for Wireless Local Area Network) aren’t as reliable as wired network, the signal can be interfere by many factor, such as near by devices that use the same frequency (Bluetooth, near by wlan and microwave). Even rain and glossy surface can interfere wlan connection.

Wireless is slower than wired network. Wired network are connected at 100 mbps or 1 gbps speed, but wireless G network are communicating with the speed of 54mbps (At FULL signal strength, as the signal strength lesser the speed get slower until 1mbps) 108mbps for Wireless N. Wireless network bandwidth are shared per router/AP. If you have more than one computer communicate at the same time, the bandwidth will be divide to half for each computer. Therefore it’s not a good idea to connect many computer to one wireless AP/router if you need to transfer files between computers.

A major WLAN drawback are security issue. Anyone within signal range can connect to the network with key, Weak wireless security protocol such as WEP, already have known way to break it. Once hacker had cracked the network key and connect into your network., they can wreck your IT infrastructure or gather confidential data! So make sure you secure your wireless network with at least WPA. Using MAC address filtering add another layer of security to your WLAN.

WLAN also have more things to configuration than wired network. therefore require more technical knowledge to implement WLAN.

To Wireless or not wireless?

If the computer is near the router/switch it’s best to use a network cable to connect to the network, connect via wire is more reliable, faster and secure. However for laptop computer or computer too far away from router, connect via wireless save you from pulling long cables and fussy cables. but post security issue if not properly secured. If there’s too many computer using wireless consider add more wireless access point to add more bandwidth to your wireless network.

Oct 07

Wireless Network Security – What You Need To Know

Wireless network (wi-fi, wlan or 802.11) is getting more popular, unfold your laptop search for wlan in a residential area you can find few of them. But how much do you know about wireless network? Improper configuration of wireless network can cause your computers within network open to malicious attack, and even cause legal issue. This article provide you general information about wireless network security.

What’s wrong with unsecured network? is it dangerous?

Leaving your wireless network unsecured means any wlan device can connect to your network freely. Any device that are connected to your network are able to access all computer in your network, if you share any files and folder they will able to access too. Most of the time people will just connect to your network and use your internet access. But people with malicious intent can infiltrate into your network. They can steal your data, install virus or spyware into your computer, sabotage your access point and worst of all commit cyber crime through your internet access. Also beware of unsecured wireless network you can find, because computers connect to an unsecured wireless network communicate with wireless access point in CLEAR TEXT. People with network sniffer are able to look through what are you sending and receiving, including passwords.

It’s it safe to use public hotspot / wi-fi?

Connecting to public hotspot/wi-fi also connect your computer to other computer within that network. Therefore all your shared files may visible to them. Windows Vista have network profile feature that let you choose network profile every time you connect to a new network. Choose PUBLIC when you connect to public hotspot. Also enable Windows update to patch up security hole to prevent attacks from same network.

How to secure my wireless network? What is WEP and WPA?

To secure your wireless network, you will need to configure your wireless router/access point. To configure your

Security settings

network, you open your internet browser and type in the IP address of your wireless router/access point, you can find the IP through the manual or on the device (does not apply if you changed your device’s IP), another way is open your network connection status and look for the gateway IP. The gateway IP is your router IP (Does not apply to access point). Then you will need to enter your device user and password. (Default password can be found in user manual or online).

After type in the correct IP and account information, you will then enter the device configuration web page. Find the wireless section, then security section to configure wireless security settings.

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is the most basic wireless network security protocol. Supported by most devices, but it’s consider insecure for today, because there’s a known way to crack and obtain the password easily.

WPA (Wi- Fi Protected Access) and WPA2, is wi-fi standard to improve over WEP. WPA is more secure than WEP, and it’s considered enough security for most scenario.WPA2 is the follow on security method to WPA for wireless networks that provides stronger data protection and network access control. It provides enterprise and consumer Wi-Fi users with a high level of assurance that only authorized users can access their wireless networks. Based on the IEEE 802.11i standard, WPA2 provides government grade security by implementing the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS 140-2 compliant AES encryption algorithm and 802.1x-based authentication. This is the BEST security protocol, but some device doesn’t support WPA2 or even WPA. (Hand held game console and old laptop)

So what should I do with the wireless security settings? Which one I should choose?

Choose the security mode to highest your device support, If all your wlan device support WPA2 then select WPA2, Otherwise choose lower security protocol that your device support. Choose shared key and type in your pass phrase. Save your settings. After that when u try to connect to your wireless network, it will prompt you for the pass phrase. Type in your pass phrase you have entered in your router/access point and you will be able to log on your network.

I still dont’t get it, this is too difficult

Consult your device manual, I recommend Linksys and D-Link product because they are easy to setup. If you need assistance or any questions send me a comment.