¶ … attended a lecture on wireless LAN security that outlined security threats and discussed measures a company needs to take to mitigate risks. The presentation focused on the IEEE 802.11b standard for port-based network access control that provides authenticated and somewhat encrypted network access to 802.11 wireless networks. The findings of the lecture indicated that this standard is still too immature to adequately secure wireless networks.
IEEE 802.11b deploys Wireless Equivalent Privacy for encrypting wireless traffic, which is basically insecure with its current implementation of static keys. A firmware upgrade known as Temporary Key Integrity Protocol has been introduced to offer better encryption by using fast-packet rekeying to change encryption keys frequently. However, security may still be compromised even though it may be harder to do so since there is less traffic with identical keys. The 802.11b standard requires the use of the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service server for authentication and uses Extensible Authentication Protocol and Transport Layer Security data communication protocols to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks that attempt to bypass authentication. But, the most serious security threat is password theft. Handheld devices do not offer adequate password security and these devices are frequently lost or stolen.
Companies will need to do two things to supplement the security of 802.11b. First, they need to use either a VPN or hardware aggregation devices for encryption. Small wireless LANs can take advantage of VPNs that offer IPsec or PPTP encryption. A wireless LAN client transmits encrypted data through the access point to a VPN concentrator that decrypts the data and passes it onto the wired network. This approach is too expensive and complicated for larger wireless LANs. Hardware aggregation devices scale better than VPNs and interoperate with more wireless equipment. These devices sit between wireless LAN access points and the rest of the wired network to provide a secure gateway for accessing internal resources. Secondly, companies must experiment with biometrics to overcome password theft. Biometrics technology allows identification through fingerprint reading, face recognition, and voice authentication.
The truth of the matter is the biometric templates for identity enrolment that are stored on a server are not in the real since images rather they are mathematical representations of the data points that the biometric algorithm is able to extract from the scanned fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein or iris. The identifying template is a binary file that has a series of zeros and ones. The algorithm then
It also helps to reduce the threat of identity theft as this is frequently initiated through the hacking of such highly vulnerable wireless communication devices. According to ThirdFactor, the same BioLock technology is currently being adapted to meet the needs of the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS packages on the market's near horizon. This suggests that the pacesetting consumer brands in the technology, software, cell phone and computing industries
Biometric Safeguards and Risks Biometric Safeguarding Itakura and Tsujii are proposing to allow an external organization, such as PKI, to issue biological certification as a way to ensure the validity of biological information. (Itkura, 2005) It would consist of three cryptographic keys; a public key and two secret keys. The public key would be defined as the representative template for personal biological information registration. The algorithm selects the representative template to be
Biometric Controls Biometric Cost Analysis There are some questions that will help determine the cost benefit analysis of a new biometric system (Cooper). The level of security, the level of reliability, need of backup, the acceptable time for enrollment, level of privacy, and storage needed are things that need to be determined first. Will the system be attended or not? Does the system need to be resistant to spoofing? Will the system
This was done by creating an artificial fingerprint from the little traces that are left on the biometric scanners. This entailed the process of obtaining the relevant biometric data. The second approach involved employment of a technique that is commonly referred to as deploying a replay attack. In this approach is equivalent to the man-in-the-middle attack that is common in various communication data breaches. The process involves the tapping
However, a very determined criminal, as mentioned above, might go as far as cutting off fingers in order to circumvent this problem. Nonetheless, fingerprinting appears to make car theft somewhat more challenging than the ordinary immobilizing device. Main Conclusions Because of its groundbreaking technology and the fact that it makes car theft more difficult than ordinary immobilizing devices, biometric fingerprinting devices for immobilizing and car door locking holds particular advantages over
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