Super Basic Network Security 'n' Stuff

Matt G over at Better'n'Better writes of his glorious new wireless networking experiences with his new laptop, and it brings out the techie in me at about the same level as the newbie sweeping the room with a .45 of unknown provenance brings out the firearms instructor in a lot of us.

*CRINGE*

Wireless is pretty neat stuff in all its many and exciting flavors (802.11a/b/g/n, bluetooth, etc), and like a lot of other neat things has both upsides and downsides of both a legal and practical nature. The below is very basic, very fast, and touches only on the high points...and I do answer questions :)

For the sake of simplicity and sanity, we'll stick with the 802.11's with a brief side riff on the notion of cellular wireless access later on in the chat...

802.11a/b/g/n/etc

802.11 is a broad standard that includes a bunch of mutually incompatible sub-standards - in other words, an "A" access card won't talk to an "N" Wireless Access point, G doesn't talk to B, B doesn't talk to A, etc ad nauseum. That's why most Wireless Access Points or Routers are combo boxes that if you look carefully are labelled "802.11a/b/g/n" or some combination thereof...and what each of those funky letters describe are different ways of sending and getting data...with some faster than others, and others that do better at penetrating ground clutter than sending data at the highest possible speed.

What all of them share is that unless the user has got encryption set up at *both* ends of the wireless piece (i.e., in most 802.11 setups, the route is Wirelessly Connected Laptop>>Wireless Access Point/Router>>Wired Network), that you are:

1. Sending data in the clear, readable by anyone driving by with a receiver. Zero Encryption.
2. Providing random wandering laptops with an access point to the 'net for which YOU are liable, at least conceivably...
3. Theft of Wireless Service
   

Regarding #1, what that means is when you order some cool new leather gear from Gall with your very own Visa card...with no encryption, that "anybody with a receiver" can simply sit there, grab the data off the air, and then call up Gall and re-direct your delivery..and take the credit card information over to "Sam's House of Kink & Adult Pleasure" and use said information enthusiastically. But credit card information is *thinking small*, when complete ID theft is possible.

If you haven't set up a software firewall on your laptop, you can get *visitors* coming in and romping through your hard drive...something that is equally true if you take your laptop visiting random wired networks...in the same general sense as "firewall=good", right up there with "antivirus=good", and "anti-spyware=good". Essentially every time your laptop or PC touches a wired OR wireless network, it is vulnerable to whatever critters linger thereupon.

On to point #2, and only after clearly stating that I am neither a lawyer nor do I play one on television....there have been several recent cases of less tech-savvy Law Enforcement sorts doing the door-kicker waltz on a Child Porn or other internet offense bust, and on arrival (after seizing all hardware and hauling it off to LE-friendly geek) discovering no evidence of said offenses - what gives?

One way down this ugly little path is the unsecured wireless access point. Our little wide-open WAP sits there on our innocent critters network, available for any little old wireless passerby to grab signal and access the net...and any of that wireless passerby's network traffic (Say, to "Sam's House of Carnality and Severely Objectionable Naughtiness") will show up to an outside investigator as originating on the network of our innocent critter...which will likely be enough to persuade a judge to authorize a Blue Light Morris Dance and Search of our innocent critters premises, with seizure of any electronics more complicated than a toaster. Not fun.

Finally, option #3, we have our our innocent end-user new to the wonderful world of wireless with a bright shiny new laptop, who in turn discovers the existence of delightfully insecure wireless networks ("I can click and hook up! WOOHOO! WHO NEEDS DSL?") in neighborhood, workplace, and out on patrol. There's a couple things our newbie should be aware of...this sort of hook-up is insecure per se, and second, that more and more jurisdictions have defined rightly or wrongly this kind of hook up as theft of services, piggy-backing on someone elses connection w/o permission not unlike hanging an unauthorized feeder line off someone elses power meter w/o permission in order to power your house.

Finally, with all this fun behind us, we'll move on to the promised discussion of cellular internet access, an entirely different creature. Where the 802.11? family of wireless require hotspots with hookups to the internet from each hotspot, with cellular, the cell phone company in question acts as the "link to the 'net" and access is available wherever you can get cell phone coverage on the carrier to which you subscribe. Cost is roughly $50-80 a month, depending on what you sign up for, and coverage is roadworthy in most areas..and in most senses, it's safe to treat it with only the degree of paranoia that you'd utilize on a standard internet connection (recall that on the new digital cellular networks, the signal is digitally encrypted anyway), though like with guns, more is better - feel free to add more levels of encryption/safety as your skill levels allow.

Wireless is darned convenient stuff, but not without its' little downfalls...but the convenience of going all-wireless (including printers, scanners, etc) is horribly seductive. Different situations will give you different answers, so...

Makes your choices, takes your chances.