Mojo networks' tips to secure data protection, safe internet usage

In an era of technological advancements, the internet has evolved into an integral part of everyday life, whether it is to do with professional matters or personal usage. Although establishing an unsecured Wi-Fi connection may seem convenient, it risks the security of our work.

The risks are escalated when using the connection for business purposes, considering the sensitivity of business data.

Primarily, the risks of unsecured Wi-Fi have to do with data interception and network intrusion. To this regards,Kiran Deshpande, Co-founder and President of Mojo Networks, cloud-hosted secure Wi-Fi provider has shared insights on cyber protection and tackling hackers on an open Wi-Fi Network.

 

With regards to managed WiFi connection, users must avoid using Open or WEP. Instead, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or WPA2 with 802.1x authentication could be used. A Pre-Shared Key (PSK) authentication instead of 802.1x should be implemented with a strong passphrase (aka WPA shared key) that is at least eight characters long and is a combination of alphanumeric and special characters.

Another important factor to keep in mind is to change the default admin password on the Wi-Fi AP to a stronger password to prevent unauthorised users from tampering with the AP's settings. The password must not contain any sensitive information such as the user's name or name of the organisation he or she represents.

Deshpande also encouraged promotion of awareness among end users to follow wireless endpoint security practices such as: using virtual private network (VPN) at Wi-Fi hotspots, connecting to trusted Wi-Fi networks only, regular cleanup of the 'preferred networks' list, disabling the ad-hoc connection mode, turning off their Wi-Fi when not in useand keeping the Wi-Fi driver software up-to-date.

With regards to unmanaged WiFi networks, Deshpande urged that the airspace should be scanned periodically to audit Wi-Fi devices and activity in and around the user's premises, and proactively identify potential vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi security posture and gaps in the regulatory compliance.

Users could install Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS), which provides comprehensive protection against wireless threats from unmanaged devices such as Rogue APs, mis-associations, Honeypots, ad hoc networks and DoS attacks. It can detect, automatically block and locate such threats.

WIPS also keeps watch on the managed Wi-Fi infrastructure to ensure that managed APs are always properly configured and to detect cracking exploits.