NETWORK SECURITY

By: Nathan Forant

SOBX Tech

WHAT IS NETWORK SECURITY?

By definition Network Security is the protection of networks and their services from unauthorized modification, destruction or disclosure, and provision of assurance that the network performs its critical functions correctly and there are no harmful side effects. Basically meaning that network security makes sure that you are the ONLY one how can use and gain access to your network, which helps you keep intruders or hackers from getting to your information on your computer.

WHY IS NETWORK SECURITY IMPORTANT?Today, people do a lot of tasks online such as banking, shopping, reservations etc, right from the comfort of their home. With these privileges comes the need to input important information (such as credit card numbers and account numbers) into web pages where you don’t know who’s reading the information on the other side or who is spying on what you do from a separate location.

HOW EASY IS IT TO BREAK INTO YOUR COMPUTER?

As the Internet has grown so has the intelligence and capabilities of hackers. Software programs have become more and more complicated making it harder to find a small hole or virus. Without proper security software, all it takes is for you to download a free virus-filled application off the Internet and run it. However, even with proper security software hackers can develop new methods of getting into your computer, which makes it of the most importance to constantly update your security software.

PASSWORDSPasswords are keys you use to access safeguarded information, such as personal information, online accounts, banking information, etc. In the online world, passwords are the main way of keeping hackers away from your information. It’s the hardest thing for another person to find out. Without passwords, what would protect our information online? E-mail addresses? How easy is it to figure out your friends email address? It is important to make sure that your password is something that nobody else will not be able to figure out easily. For example, you shouldn’t make your password your name since all of your friends will be able to login to your online accounts

and see your information.

STRONG PASSWORDSWhat makes a strong password? There is a lot of criteria to include when making a strong password.

Length – All passwords should be long. Most places where you input a password will give you a number range of characters to include in the password. It is always best to include the MAXIMUM number of characters. The longer the password the more possibilities a hacker has to go through before he/she gets to your password. If there is no range acknowledged,

STRONG PASSWORDSit is best to include 14 or more characters. Some places let you include a [space] as a character in the passwords. It is best to take advantage of that and create a password of multiple words.

Characters – Make sure to use all types of characters. The more symbols used the harder it will be for a hacker to determine your password. Sometimes the place where you enter a password will tell you what characters/symbols you can use in your password. If you cannot use a wide variety of characters it is important to make the password longer to get the same degree of safety from it.

Think of making a password as choosing a word/phrase to use in hangman. The more unique the letters, the harder it will be for somebody to figure out. Make sure to use phrases that you will be able to remember, but others will not be able to figure out.

PASSWORDS TO AVOIDThere are certain types of passwords that you want to make sure NOT to use.

Avoid using passwords that have repeating characters such as “222222”, “123456”, “abcdef” or adjacent letters on your keyboard such as “asdfgh” or “qwerty”

Purposely mistaking look-alike symbols such as “l”(L) for “1”(one). Or words like “P@ssw0rd” that just look like the same word. Hackers are smart enough not to be fooled by these.

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Do not use parts of your login name, real name, birthday, social security number, credit card number, or other important information that you are already trying to protect with that password.

Do not use words that exist in dictionaries of any language. Hackers have very good software that can quickly go through dictionaries of any language as well as backwards words, common misspellings, and substitutions.

Do not use the same password for anything more than once. If a hacker gets access to one of your passwords he/she will keep note of that password and try to use it later again.

WIRELESS SECURITYWireless security is the prevention of unauthorized access or damage to computers using wireless networks. The risks to users of wireless technology have increased as the service has become more popular.

WEPWEP stands for Wired Equivalency Privacy and comes in different key sizes. The common key lengths are currently 128- and 256-bit. The longer the better as it will increase the difficulty for crackers. Your WEP key is basically your password to access your network. This password is one of the most important passwords you can have. Check out the password section for more information on creating a safe and strong password.

BROADCASTING SSIDYour SSID (Service set identifier) is the name used to identify your wireless network. By default your wireless router probably broadcasts your SSID meaning when it sends out the signal it also sends out the SSID so that computers that pick up the signal can pick up the name of the network. This makes it easy for auto-detection of your wireless network but it also makes it easier for people to jump on your network. You can disable the broadcast of your SSID and the only thing

you have to do is manually enter that name on all the computers you have connected to your wireless network. It is much more difficult for a person to try to get on your network if they cannot even see it in the first place.

ONLINE RISKSEven though you think the internet is the best thing in the world, it too has its risks. you see there are many people who want too damage your life and your computer. you hear a lot on the news about identity theft involving computers and that sends a chill. Even when people do hear about these risks, they think that it won’t happen to them and forget about it. You should always be informed about the latest news involving how you can protect yourselves.

SECURE WEBSITESHaving a secure website is necessary for just about everything you do online. There are many easy ways to tell if a site is secure and encrypted. first detail you should notice is it has “https” at the beginning of the URL. The website should have a “s” which means that any information is encrypted. most browsers include a lock icon in the browser to show that it has encryption, but you have to make sure that it isn’t just a picture.

MALICIOUS URLDid you ever know that hackers can alter browser code to mislead you? This type of phishing can be very tricky to detect because everything looks normal. They can write Java Script commands to change the way your address bar works. they can place a picture over a real site to make it look like you are going to a secure site. In some cases malicious URL details can be hidden by encoding techniques. This type of phishing is harmful for inexperienced users.

BROWSERYour browser is an important step to protect you form unwanted internet troubles. a good browser should help you protect against phishing and other dangers of the internet. browsers are regularly updated to include patches of known security risks. they send out fixes that cover up holes in the browser’s code so hackers can’t take over a computer and steal information. it is a good idea to always check for browser updates to get the latest and most secure edition of your browser.