Network security measures and preventive strategies

Network Security and Why Use It

Security And Why Use It

The security of any network should be taken seriously. A network allows someone to share resources and information with others on the network. Networks allow for distribution of computer viruses, Trojans, human intruders, and employees can damage more than just one computer. To better understand the importance of network security, one needs to think of what might happen if all the data for a company that is stored in their servers vanishes. This scenario would cause losses that the company might never recover. Networks are divided into three main categories Internetwork (internet), Wide Area Networks (WAN) and Local Area Networks (LAN). These three categories of network require security to ensure that no malicious humans gain access, and no viruses attack the network.

To better understand network security, one needs to know what a network is. A network is defined by Hu, Myers, Colizza, Vespignani, and Parisi (2009)

as a grouping of computers and other hardware which are interconnected using communication channels allowing for information and resource sharing. Network security involves protecting a network from any unauthorized access. Preventive measures are undertaken to ensure the security of any network. There are also intrusion detection systems which detect and inform the network administrator of any attempts to break into the network.

Network security can also be defined as the provisions put in place by the network administrator to secure the computer network. There are also policies that can be adopted to ensure no unauthorized access to the network. These policies include username and password requirement before one can gain access to the network, antivirus software to protect against virus attacks, intrusion detection systems to monitor the network and report of any attempted intrusion Schonlau et al. (2001)

, and physical security to protect against theft of servers and network peripherals. With the continual advancement in technology, hackers are inventing new ways of attacking computer network. Therefore, the network administrator will need to keep up with these changes and ensure that their network is protected fully form any kind of attacks.

Once a user is authorized to access a network, they need to be monitored to ensure they do not access files they are not authorized. To ensure this, every network requires a firewall which contains access privileges for every user, thus ensuring that a person does not access files or services they are not authorized to access. The firewall and security measures put in place will ensure there will be no unauthorized access to the network, but if the users who have access to the network are not properly educated this measures will not work. The users need to be taught on the need to keep their passwords safe, need to not share their access credentials with any other person, and not allowing unauthorized users to access their computer network. This training will ensure that the measures undertaken are successful.

WPA and WPA2 security protocols

WPA which stands for, Wi-Fi Protected Access, is a security protocol for wireless networks developed to overcome the flaws of WEP protocol. WPA was initially intended to be an immediate measure while development of WPA 2 was underway. This protocol employed TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol), which uses a different key for each packet transmitted. This means that TKIP dynamically generates a 128-bit encryption key for every packet transmitted, thus preventing the kind of attacks which compromised the WEP protocolRao & Parikh, 2003.

There is also an integrity check message that is included in WPA. This message prevents an attacker from altering, capturing, or resending their own data packets.

There have been flaws discovered in the WPA protocol. These flaws mostly affect short packets that have known contents. This flaw does not allow for the encryption key to be discovered or recovered, but the hackers can get a keystream which they can use to encrypt certain packets. The keystream can be used seven times to inject data to an identical packet length.

WPA2 was introduced to overcome the TKIP security flaw of WPA. WPA2 uses the CCMP (Counter Cipher Mode Protocol) which is a new encryption protocol developed specifically for Wireless LAN. This new standard is much more secure than WEP and WPA TKIP protocol. CCMP ensure that there is more data confidentiality, better authentication, and control of user access.

Firewalls

According to Krishna and Victoire (2011)

a firewall assists in securing a network from external and unauthorized attacks. It can either be hardware-based of software-based. The primary objective of any firewall is controlling the outgoing and incoming network traffic. It controls by analyzing all the data packets and determines if they should pass in to the network or out of the network, by using some predetermined set of rules. The firewall of a network is installed as a bridge between the external insecure network, and the internal secure network. The operating systems for many computers come with a software-based firewall, which protects the computer against attacks from the internet. Routers also come with software-based firewall components. Majority of firewalls have the capability to perform some basic routing functions.

A firewall allows a computer network to be protected from external attacks. The computer network will be accessing the internet using one main computer which has the firewall installed. This computer performs the processing of data received from the internet and checks it to determine if it meets the set rules. The firewall will also perform the following services proxy services, packet filtering, and stateful inspection.

The proxy service retrieves and sends information from the internet, and transmits this information to the requesting system. Packet filtering analyses all packets been sent and received within the network to ensure they meet the predetermined set of rules before been forwarded to the requesting system. Packets that do not meet the set criteria are discarded. Stateful inspection checks some key parts against a trusted information database, if the packets meet a reasonable match they are allowed to pass through.

Conclusion

The security of any network should ensure that an attacker would require considerable time to attack the network, and they would not be guaranteed access after their efforts. Having in place the best and updated security measures will ensure that the computer network is secure and not prone to any attack. A slightly secured network is better than having no security at all. In network security, one needs to ensure that there is confidentiality, availability, and integrity at all times Papaj, Dobos, & izmar, 2012()

In network security, the internet cannot be ignored. Everyone uses and accesses the internet in search for information, news, and other resources. Securing the Local network against external attacks from the internet is paramount. All computers will need to have individual protection to ensure that in case the firewall or the other measures get compromised, the hackers will not gain access to individual computers on the network.