Wireless networking is not without risk:
- Your home wireless network should be restricted to just you and
your family. Use WEP/WPA encryption (shared secret -- WPA is
stronger, WEP is weak) and MAC address filters to limit access to
your network -- don't let others use your home network, don't
expose information in the clear (use encryption) to snoops. See SANS Security Tip.
- Avoid clear text protocols that expose your userid and password
(like "smtp", "pop3" and "imap" for mail -- use the SSL encrypted
versions). See Email Security:
Authentication and SSL.
- Watch out for Windows:
Peer-Peer (Ad Hoc) Wireless Connections especially at
airports, hotels and other public spaces -- you may be connected
to a bad guy. Are you giving your credit card to the hotel
server or a hacker? See SANS Security Tip.
- Wireless network drivers (ie. the interface within the operating
system) have been in the news lately with exploits on several
platforms. Many are poorly written and assume well formed input
-- hackers are injecting bad traffic that can exploit your
system. But laptop vendors are doing a poor job of keeping us
informed about updates required (beware -- Microsoft Windows
Update Center does a terrible job with driver updates). My laptop
has 40 "recommended" and 8 "urgent" updates (4 of the 8 are for
"network drivers").
- A good practice is to disable the wireless network when not in
use (on my laptop it's a function key). Your battery will last
longer if you do.
See also OnGuard Online
Wireless Security
and try their quiz
Invasion of
the Wireless Hackers.
