Wireless Vulnerabilities Threats And Countermeasures Information Technology Essay

Introduction to Network Security maintains its focus on the network and its vulnerabilities, protocols, and security solutions. It includes network architecture, the functions of layers in a typical network, and network based attacks including header, protocol, and authentication attacks. Bottom-up approach, it provides understanding of the vulnerabilities and mechanisms of each layer of network security.

In any stadium there is network security plan in order to control all the events occurred in the stadium like ticketing selling, consumable purchases, seating arrangement and others. By using the wireless technology and mobiles we can plan the top level network security in the plan, the steps taken in this are all the members in the wireless channel have one wireless mobile. From the mobiles all the members can give the information to channel that means it is a server. All the decisions taken by the empires are by the wireless only, the video channel also very much useful in controlling the stadium.

Consider the cricket stadium

Chinnaswamy, Cricket Stadium in Bangalore, INDIA.

The boundary line of the stadium is marked by the rope and here the boundary line is called as the perimeter of the stadium having field diameter of 140 to 160 yards. Score board has to display scores and sometimes should work as a third empire for keen observation and all this setup should work with wireless technology because wired transmission cannot be implemented over there. This stadium with a seating capacity of 55,000.

Features of the stadium:

The entire stadium is equipped with the very sensitive digital cameras, short and long distance explosive detectors. Totally it have 29 closed circuit television cameras, in this 29 cameras five of them are very highly sophisticated which are having the 360 degree of vision and all these will covers all the corners of the stadium. Trained marshals will operate the 29 closed circuit television cameras (CCTV), nearly 20 trained marshals are there in the stadium. These marshals having the helmets which are with sensitive cameras and sensitive detectors which are capable for covering the explosives which are happened around of 300 meter, this is called as OSD(on-screen display) camera which in the helmet and it is directly connected to the CMS(central monitoring system) vehicle. This CMS vehicle is standing outside the stadium, so whatever the marshal see and do, each and every point of the stadium and things happening in the stadium are very clearly seen in the CMS (central monitoring system) vehicle. The entire system works on SNMP(simple network management protocol).

Total stadium can be seen in the CMS vehicle, and another important thing is that empires decisions for example take the out and not out decisions it can be displayed on the big digital screen. The runs taken by the both the teams will be displayed on the digital screen in stadium.

At the heart of the modern stadium is a communications system capable of supporting the innovative new services and applications customers are looking for. Organizing and hosting events requires a complete communications foundation essential to satisfying the communication needs of fans, guests, corporate employees, service and security staff, event organizers, press and media. It is that to provide all the components needed to build a complete, converged, secure and reliable communications system.

Security, communication and services are the main aspects at the stadiums now-a-

days. The organizers and event managers should be able to satisfy the complete communications foundation essential to satisfying the communication needs of fans, guests, corporate employees, service and security staff, event organizers, press and media. And also the communication system which provides all the components needed to build a complete, secure and consistent communications system.

Converged IP/Ethernet Core:

Stadiums support the communications needs of events with much number of users. Moreover, the supporting infrastructure is shared by different groups with different needs including stadium corporate users, media and press and event promoters. It is important to the make the event successful with High-speed, consistent and secure communication which doesn’t fails. With reliable, secure, high-performance, intelligent Ethernet connectivity the enterprise LANs can intelligently prioritize real-time business communications like voice, video and multimedia services.

Voice communications: Voice communications are important in any environment and mainly in the stadiums. IP networks provide the strength and quality of service that voice service requires. Converging voice and data over IP maximizes network efficiency, streamlines the architecture, reduces capital and operating costs, and opens up new service opportunities. It would be secure for organizations of all sizes to use voice over IP (VoIP), with IP PBXs (Private Branch Exchange). Today the global markets have a complete variety of IP phones, including desktop phones with displays, rugged wireless handsets, and PC-based “softphones”. All of these access devices operate seamlessly across the range of IP-enabled platforms and applications.

Mobility: The nature of the stadium environment is mobile. Staff move constantly on making the event successful and provide the security at the top level. For the users, it is essential to have the access to key information and communication tools and allows them to roam and remain in touch no matter where they are.

In WLAN IP Telephony services, we have a large choice of mobile desktops and handsets. Voice calls can be placed from laptops or PDAs(Personal Digital Assistant) using soft phones and employees can be equipped with voice over WLAN handsets that support multiple functions extremely useful for stadium staff, such as text messaging, conferencing and a push-to-talk feature that allows groups of handsets to behave as walkie-talkies.

With this, the good coverage can be assured in areas which are difficult to reach with public areas. Wireless Mesh Network extends the reach of Wireless LANs securely and cost-effectively for situations where cabling for the LAN network is not in place or too costly to deploy.

Implementing new Technologies

With a comprehensive communications infrastructure as the base, stadiums have the foundation on which to build an intelligent environment filled with new, media-rich applications and services capable of creating new revenue opportunities and improving the overall fan experience.

Wireless ticketing kiosks: Premium seats for sporting events and concerts can be expensive. Stadiums can leverage wireless technology to implement standalone, mobile kiosks that attract fans to upgrade their existing tickets for an event – onsite.

Digital signage directs patrons to the kiosk during the event. The fan simply inserts his ticket, checks a map of available seats, uses a touch-screen to select the new seat and inserts his credit card to pay. The machine keeps the old ticket and provides the upgrade. The stadium fills the seats closer to the action and generates revenue that would have been lost. It creates a win-win for the guest, the team and the stadium.

Stadium owners can use the same kiosk to encourage customers to buy tickets for future events while guests are onsite and in the mood to buy. The kiosk can advertise upcoming events and attract fans waiting to exit after watching a game or seeing a concert. The terminal shows a list of available events and allows users to follow the same simple steps to purchase a ticket.

Additionally, stadium owners can use the kiosk to capture and collect valuable information about its customer base. The kiosk can advertise loyalty programs and contests that offer incentives for fans to provide personal data that helps the stadium better understand and communicate with its audience base.

Public safety and security: With thousands of people attending major events at one time, public safety and security is critical. Stadiums can leverage the communications system to offer digital security options including digital video surveillance and RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) tagging and tracking. For example, stadiums can improve security threat detection with high-resolution IP cameras that provide full surveillance of the crowd using pre-sets by section: operators can select a stadium section and automatically receive all video from that section in multiple views. Operations staff can set rules to govern detection of left bags, perimeter entry, threshold crossing and loitering – receiving alarms if any of the rules are breached

Stadiums can improve event response through video feeds and text alerts that are transmitted manually or automatically to remote PDAs, laptops or offsite responders. All responders can be linked together automatically via dedicated audio conferencing channel. RFID tags can be used to locate and dispatch the closest security personnel to an emergency situation, ensuring a timely response.

ABOUT NETWORK SECURITY AND TO FIND THREATS

Vulnerabilities, Threats and Countermeasures

Wireless networking has many advantages. Network configuration and reconfiguration is easier, faster, and less expensive. But, wireless technology creates new threats and alters the existing information security risk profile. Wireless networking alters the risks associated with various threats to security, the security objectives remain the same as with wired networks, preserving confidentiality, ensuring integrity, and maintaining availability of the information and information systems.

Wireless Networks present a host of issues for network managers. Unauthorized access points, broadcasted SSIDs, unknown stations, and spoofed MAC addresses are just a few of the problems addressed in WLAN troubleshooting.

Wireless Vulnerabilities, Threats and Countermeasures

The wireless networks consist of four basic components: The transmission of data using radio frequencies; Access points that provide a connection to the organizational network and/or the Client devices (laptops, PDAs) and Users. Each of these components provides an avenue for attack that can result in the compromise of one or more of the three fundamental security objectives of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Wireless Network Attacks

Malicious association

“Malicious associations” are when wireless devices can be actively made by crackers to connect to a network through their cracking laptop instead of a access point (AP). These types of laptops are known as “soft APs” and are created when a cracker runs some software that makes his/her wireless network card look like a legitimate access point. Once the cracker has gained access, he/she can steal passwords, launch attacks on the wired network, or plant trojans. Since wireless networks operate at the Layer 2 level, Layer 3 protections such as network authentication and virtual private networks (VPNs) offer no barrier. Wireless 802.1x authentications do help with protection but are still vulnerable to cracking. The idea behind this type of attack may not be to break into a VPN or other security measures. Most likely the cracker is just trying to take over the client at the Layer 2 level.

Ad-hoc networks

Ad-hoc networks can pose a security threat. Ad-hoc networks are defined as peer-topeer networks between wireless computers that do not have an access point in between them. While these types of networks usually have little protection, encryption methods can be used to provide security.

Identity theft (MAC spoofing)

Identity theft (or MAC spoofing) occurs when a cracker is able to listen in on network traffic and identify the MAC address of a computer with network privileges. Most wireless systems allow some kind of MAC filtering to only allow authorized computers with specific MAC IDs to gain access and utilize the network. However, a number of programs exist that have network “sniffing” capabilities. Combine these programs with other software that allow a computer to pretend it has any MAC address that the cracker desires, and the cracker can easily get around that hurdle.

Man-in-the-middle attacks

A man-in-the-middle attacker entices computers to log into a computer which is set up as a soft AP (Access Point). Once this is done, the hacker connects to a real access point through another wireless card offering a steady flow of traffic through the transparent hacking computer to the real network. The hacker can then sniff the traffic. One type of man-in-the-middle attack relies on security faults in challenge and handshake protocols to execute a “de-authentication attack”. This attack forces AP connected computers to drop their connections and reconnect with the cracker’s soft AP. Man-in-the-middle attacks are enhanced by software such as LANjack and AirJack, which automate multiple steps of the process. What once required some skill can now be done by script kiddies. Hotspots are particularly vulnerable to any attack since there is little to no security on these networks.

Denial of service

A Denial-of-Service attack (DoS) occurs when an attacker continually bombards a targeted AP (Access Point) or network with bogus requests, premature successful connection messages, failure messages, and/or other commands. These cause legitimate users to not be able to get on the network and may even cause the network to crash. These attacks rely on the abuse of protocols such as the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP).

Network injection

In a network injection attack, a cracker can make use of access points that are exposed to non-filtered network traffic, specifically broadcasting network traffic such as “Spanning Tree” (802.1D), OSPF, RIP, and HSRP. The cracker injects bogus networking re-configuration commands that affect routers, switches, and intelligent hubs. A whole network can be brought down in this manner and require rebooting or even reprogramming of all intelligent networking devices.

Signal-Hiding Techniques In order to intercept wireless transmissions, attackers first need to identify and locate wireless networks. There are, however, a number of steps that organizations can take to make it more difficult to locate their wireless access points. The easiest and least costly include the following: Turning offthe service set identifier (SSID) broadcasting by wireless access points, Assign cryptic names to SSIDs, Reducing signal strength to the lowest level that still provides requisite coverage or Locating wireless access points in the interior of the building, away from windows and exterior walls. More effective, but also more costly methods for reducing or hiding signals include: Using directional antennas to constrain signal emanations within desired areas of coverage or Using of signal emanation-shielding techniques, sometimes referred to as TEMPEST, 1 to block emanation of wireless signals.

Encryption The best method for protecting the confidentiality of information transmitted over wireless networks is to encrypt all wireless traffic. This is especially important for organizations subject to regulations.

Securing Wireless Access Points

Insecure, poorly configured wireless access points can compromise confidentiality by allowing unauthorized access to the network.

Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall

Computers on a wireless network need the same protections as any computer connected to the Internet. Install anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and keep them up-to-date. If your firewall was shipped in the “off” mode, turn it on.

Change your router’s pre-set password for administration

The manufacturer of your wireless router probably assigned it a standard default password that allows you to set up and operate the router. Hackers know these default passwords, so change it to something only you know. The longer the password, the tougher it is to crack.

Allow only specific computers to access your wireless network

Every computer that is able to communicate with a network is assigned its own unique Media Access Control (MAC) address. Wireless routers usually have a mechanism to allow only devices with particular MAC addresses access to the network. Some hackers have mimicked MAC addresses, so don’t rely on this step alone.

Training and Educating Users

Notice that Figure 1 also includes users as the fourth basic component of wireless networking. As is the case with wired security, users are the key component to wireless networking security. Indeed, the importance of training and educating users about secure wireless behavior cannot be overstated. To be effective, user training and education needs to be repeated periodically.

The Security Policy

To maintain a secured wireless network security, we need to apply these policies, so that the wireless network can be protected by the major threats and vulnerabilities.

Computer Acceptable Use. A general document covering all computer use by eventstaff, including desktop, mobile, home PCs, and servers.

Password. A description of the requirements for password protecting computer systems, the rules for choosing passwords, and how the password policy is enforced.

Email. This policy covers the use of email sent from any email address and received at any computer system.

Web. A specification of what browsers may be used, how they should be configured, and any restrictions on which sites event staff can visit.

Mobile Computing and Portable Storage. A description of who owns the mobile computing and portable storage on the network, how they are supported, and what specific devices (if any) are authorized for use on the network.

Remote Access. A policy stating who can access what information from which locations under what circumstances.

Internet. A description of your Internet-facing gateway configuration, stating what is allowed in and out, and why.

Wireless. A specification stating how wireless access will be managed on the network and how access points will be plugged in, secured, and maintained; who is allowed to use them; and under what circumstances.

Servers. A statement of the standards for servers, what services are enabled or disabled by default, and important distinctions between production, test, and development environments.

Incident Response Plan. No policy is complete until it also specifies what to do when defenses fail: what is considered a security incident; who gets called; who is authorized to shut things down if needed; who is responsible for enforcing applicable local laws; who speaks for the company.

Standards:

Workstations: Approval for workstation connection must be obtained as part of the standard workstation installation process handled by Information Technology Services, or authorized departmental technical personnel.

Other devices (including, but not limited to, network components such as hubs, routers, switches, wireless access points, printers and other communication devices): Approval to connect devices other than workstations must be expressly obtained from Information Technology Services/Network Services.

Vendors/visitors can obtain a physical connection access to the University network through Information Technology Services on a per visit basis. This access will be granted for a specific period of time

Mail servers may not be run outside of Information Technology Services.

Guidelines:

Accounts

Definition and use of departmental accounts and shared accounts should be restricted as

much as possible. Only those functions needed by the user should be made available through such accounts.

Servers

1. SSL should be implemented on Web servers if account log-in is required.

2. Run intrusion detection system where appropriate

3. Store backups offsite on a monthly basis.

4. Install firewall system where appropriate

5. Application updates must be performed every 30 days.

6. Run file integrity checker such as Tripwire daily.

7. Periodically test backups for integrity.

Passwords

1. should not use any words found in dictionary of any language

2. should not use any combination of letters of a user’s real name, username, initials or nickname

3. should not use any combination of a famous person’s name

4. should not use any combination of a spouse’s, girlfriend’s, boyfriend’s, or child’s name

5. should not use any personalized numbers

Workstations

1. Turn off workstations overnight.

2. Work-related files should be stored on the Novell cluster in the staff member’s

home directory or the department’s work directory

3. Implement periodic backups

4. Logging:

a. should be enabled to record:

i. successful and unsuccessful login attempts.

ii. system and application errors.

CONCLUSION:

We introduce the top level network security plan in the stadium to control the things happening. So by this we can create the safe atmosphere to the audience in the stadium. We can prevent the things inside the stadium only but out side the stadium we can’t, so the government have to come forward and give the external security to the stadium. Because of the terrorism attacks the government has to be very careful in giving the security to the stadium. For this each and every person who entering into the stadium is first checked with bomb squad and also by the wireless detector. By this we can provide the safety to people and the players in the match.