Are "Secure" Wireless Networks Secure Indeed?

Within the last few years wireless local-area networks (WLAN) have become widely used over the world - in offices, at home, in public places. Wireless LAN have a lot of advantages, and the major one is that they can be deployed without wires for client devices, thus reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. It is also much more convenient to use wireless networks in spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings. For home users, Wi-Fi has become popular due to easy installation and, of course, location freedom - laptops are constantly gaining popularity. Public businesses such as coffee shops or malls offer wireless access to their customers, sometimes even as a free service. Mobile users buy pocket routers to be online at any time, for example, when on a trip.

But if you decide to join Wi-Fi users, take into account, that at this time wireless networks are quite vulnerable in terms of network security. This problem is discussed in the Internet and in technical press, and it has become common knowledge that even a "secured" network can be easily cracked by a skilled hacker.

The relatively low level of security has always been the main drawback of Wi-Fi networks. Formerly used protocols had several serious weaknesses and were no insurmountable obstacles for hackers, so a new security standard was introduced. Now wireless networks are mostly based on WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WPA2 protocols, which provide a higher level of Wi-Fi security. When a wireless LAN is deployed at home or in a small office, pre-shared key mode (PSK) is used. WPA-PSK requires a password of 8 to 63 characters, and if a weak password is used, shared-key WPA becomes vulnerable to password cracking attacks. How can you define if your password is sufficient to protect your Wi-Fi network against a dictionary attack? For example, if you use a single dictionary word as a password, your wireless network is definitely under the threat.

Wireless Security Audit as a Vital Part of Security Enforcement

Actually, you need to audit your network from time to time to ensure its security. They say that a truly random passphrase of 13 characters is probably sufficient to make dictionary attacks unfeasible, but how do you know that your password is "truly random"? The only way to check this is to run some kind of audit on a regular basis. A weak point in the network can make that information available to intruders. It can also provide an entry point for viruses and Trojan horses.

A lot of software developers offer various solutions for wireless security audit. Among available technologies there are programs attempting to recover passwords. Usually the process of password recovery takes a lot of time, but now you can enjoy GPU acceleration technology, which supports, for the first time, both ATI and NVIDIA hardware. This technology, developed by ElcomSoft Co., offloads parts of computational-heavy processing onto the fast and highly scalable processors featured in the latest ATI and NVIDIA video cards, as they are able to munch numbers incredibly fast. When one or more compatible ATI or NVIDIA graphics cards are present (ATI HD series, NVIDIA GeForce 8, 9 or 200 series), the patent-pending GPU acceleration technology starts automatically.

An Ultramodern Solution Based on Advanced Technologies

, released by ElcomSoft Co., features GPU-acceleration technology and can make advanced dictionary attacks with deep mutations - hundreds of mutations to each word. It is one of the most reliable and cost-efficient tools for to allow carrying out wireless security audit within a limited timeframe. With such a powerful tool, network administrators can attempt to break into the network from outside or inside, in order to determine if WLAN security is sufficient. If cannot recover the original WPA/WPA2-PSK text password within a reasonable period of time, then you can consider a wireless LAN secure enough not to be worried about it. However, if the password is recovered, you had better reconsider your company's password policy; otherwise your data security would be jeopardized.

To sum up, it may be said, that it is never that one cannot be too careful when Wi-Fi security is concerned. Since at this stage of development wireless networks are quite vulnerable, take appropriate measures to increase your wireless network security. can become one of your best helpers.

Features and Benefits of :

• Determine how secure your wireless network is



• Test the strength of WPA/WPA2-PSK passwords protecting your wireless network



• Save time with patent-pending GPU acceleration technology when one or more compatible NVIDIA or ATI video cards are present



• Run advanced dictionary attacks with highly configurable variations



• Perform attacks from inside or outside of your network

SUMMARY:

Wireless networks are quite vulnerable. Take appropriate measures to increase your wireless network security. Wireless Security Audit is a Vital Part of Security Enforcement. Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor can determine how secure your wireless network is.