Corinex Global ADSL2+ - Manual (Page 121)

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Appendices
Corinex ADSL2+ Wireless Gateway G
B.1 Maximizing Wireless Security
Security experts will all tell you the same thing: Nothing is guaranteed. No
technology is secure by itself. An unfortunate axiom is that building the better
mousetrap can often create a better mouse. This is why, in the examples below,
your implementation and administration of network security measures is the key to
maximizing wireless security.
No preventative measure will guarantee network security but it will make it more
difficult for someone to hack into your network. Often, hackers are looking for an
easy target. Making your network less attractive to hackers, by making it harder for
them to get in, will make them look elsewhere.
How do you do this? Before discussing WEP and WPA, let’s look at a few security
measures often overlooked.
A. Common Sense Solutions
1) Network Content
Now that you know the risks assumed when networking wirelessly, you should
view wireless networks as you would the Internet. Don’t host any systems or pro-
vide access to data on a wireless network that you wouldn’t put on the Internet.
2) Network Layout
When you first lay out your network, keep in mind where your wireless PCs are
going to be located and try to position your access point(s) towards the center of
that network radius. Remember that access points transmit indiscriminately in a
radius; placing an access point at the edge of the physical network area reduces net-
work performance and leaves an opening for any hacker smart enough to discover
where the access point is transmitting.
This is an invitation for a man-in-the-middle attack, as described in the previous
section. To perform this type of attack, the hacker has to be physically close to
your network. So, monitoring both your network and your property is important.
Furthermore, if you are suspicious of unauthorized network traffic, most wireless
products come with a log function, with which you can view activity on your net-
work and verify if any unauthorized users have had access.