It’s Halloween, and once again, zombies, Dracula, Michael Myers, the Woman in Black, and other denizens of the Dark Side are out to get us. But even as we suffer the terrors of the night, we know that other threats too lie outside our corporate walls, waiting to attack our innocent, unprotected Wi-Fi networks.
However, take heart: Just as a simple wooden stake can destroy a terrifying vampire, a little knowledge may save even the most misguided horror movie character. With the right information and good IT tools (and a sharp axe from the woodshed), you too can stand against the forces of darkness, keeping your network safe until dawn.
The Creatures of the Night, What Music They Make… along with other Wi-Fi-sucking applications like watching old movies and voice-streaming the local brood meeting. Even when you’re trapped in your offices, threatened by a mysterious Transylvanian nobleman and his three creepy assistants, you can’t call for help because the network is overloaded. Draining available bandwidth and reducing performance to a crawl, these blood-sucking fiends are making it impossible for your users to do business.
To shed the light of day into your network, be sure to classify and prioritise all the traffic that runs across your environment. This helps to ensure that cries for help take precedence – along with important calls, data, and texts – allowing Dr. Van Helsing to dash to the rescue.
Interference from the Other Side: Until now, you’ve thought of headquarters as a safe haven from all that is evil. But as your business relies more and more on its Wi-Fi network, you sense a terrible presence that is slowing performance – a ghostly woman dressed in black. At first you think it must be that new Goth employee with her Accounting applications, but this apparition’s resentful power grows until it threatens to take over the entire environment. The interference with your Wi-Fi signal is a dark presence that may be found almost anywhere, including in phones, tablets, watches, baby monitors, microwave ovens and even LTE services.
To keep outside interference to a minimum, set your Wi-Fi network at 5GHz – ghosts are generally more active at 2.4GHz. As well, trigger a strong spell to watch over channel usage and power settings, in order to avoid driving your network into a bog of evil and uncleanliness.
Get off the Streets! Hordes of the walking dead are arriving at your business campus, crowding into the parking lot and leaving bits of old brain on the lawn. They love nothing better than to feast on your Wi-Fi services – and slowly but surely, they are bringing your network to its knees by overwhelming its capabilities.
But dying together doesn’t solve anything. Protect your company by making sure there’s enough bandwidth to serve up to hundreds of users effectively, even in the most densely packed public spaces. As well, support your local zombie hunters by installing the most current Wi-Fi to enable timely upload and download of rich media, such as videos on combat training and weapons maintenance.
It’s the Boogeyman! Your Wi-Fi device has long been your most valuable companion – until the day you realise that what is living behind its plasma screen is purely and simply evil. Driven by a twisted longing to be constantly online, we often place our devices at terrible risk by connecting to poorly managed, insecure public Wi-Fi networks. Once connected, our device is vulnerable to stalkers like Michael “Malware” Myers, who, determined to destroy the one we love, is exposing its secrets and destroying its innermost soul.
When calling Dr. Lewis to the scene, if at all possible, use a secure connection while you are online. If one is not available, look for a public network that offers encrypted local Wi-Fi. Also, turn off your Open SSID, and don’t log into other websites unless you need to. Always consider which attachments you download and what personal data you access when online – Michael may be standing right behind you…[su_box title=”About Xirrus” style=”noise” box_color=”#336588″]
Xirrus is the leading provider of high-performance wireless networks. Xirrus solutions perform under the most demanding circumstances, offering consistent “wired-like” performance with superior coverage and security. Xirrus currently manufactures multiple radio Wi-Fi Arrays that combine a WLAN switch and APs into a single device. The company also produces a low cost two-radio access point with omni-directional antennas. Xirrus provides wireless infrastructure for general enterprise, education, public venues, healthcare, retail, government, hospitality, and manufacturing. As of 2013 Xirrus has over 4000 customers, with products and services sold internationally.[/su_box]
About the Author
The opinions expressed in this post belongs to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.
