Corinex Global ADSL2+ - Manual (Page 119)

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Appendices
Corinex ADSL2+ Wireless Gateway G
Even keeping your network settings, such as the SSID and the channel, secret won’t
prevent a hacker from listening for those beacon messages and stealing that infor-
mation. This is why most experts in wireless networking strongly recommend the
use of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). WEP encryption scrambles your wireless
signals so they can only be recognized within your wireless network.
But even WEP has its problems. WEP’s encryption algorithm is referred to as
“simple”, which also means “weak”, because the technology that scrambles the
wireless signal isn’t too hard to crack for a persistent hacker.
There are five common ways that hackers can break into your network and steal
your bandwidth as well as your data. The five attacks are popularly known as:
1. Passive Attacks
2. Jamming Attacks
3. Active Attacks
4. Dictionary-building or Table Attacks
5. Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
Passive Attacks
There’s no way to detect a passive attack because the hacker is not breaking into
your network. He is simply listening (eavesdropping, if you will) to the information
your network broadcasts. There are applications easily available on the Internet
that can allow a person to listen into your wireless network and the information
it broadcasts. Information such as MAC addresses, IP addresses, usernames, pass-
words, instant message conversations, emails, account information, and any data
transmitted wirelessly, can easily be seen by someone outside of your network
because it is often broadcast in clear text. Simply put, any information transmitted
on a wireless network leaves both the network and individual users vulnerable to
attack. All a hacker needs is a “packet sniffer”, software available on the Internet,
along with other freeware or shareware hacking utilities available on the Internet,
to acquire your WEP keys and other network information to defeat security.
Jamming Attacks
Jamming Attacks, when a powerful signal is sent directly into your wireless net-
work, can effectively shut down your wireless network. This type of attack is not
always intentional and can often come about simply due to the technology. This is
especially possible in the 2.4 GHz frequency, where phones, baby monitors, and
microwave ovens can create a great deal of interference and jam transmissions on
your wireless network. One way to resolve this is by moving your wireless devices
into the 5 GHz frequency, which is dedicated solely to information transmissions.