Part A:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:Connection-specific DNS Suffix: bc.hsia.telus.net
IP Address: 192.160.0.130
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.160.0.1
Connection-specific DNS suffix: ???
IP Address: All computers that are connected to the Internet have an easily identifiable numerical address, known as the IP Address; these allow computers to find each other, not unlike street addresses, as a matter of fact.
Subnet Mask: A “mask” that hides parts of an IP address that are used by all the computers hooked up the network. In essence, it determines where the IP address ends and the node number of an IP address begins.
Default Gateway: A gateway that is utilized in the case that there isn’t a gateway that’s specified for a given use.
Part B:
Interface: 192.168.0.103 --- 0x2
Internet Address: 192.168.0.1
Physical Address: -15-e9-76-7f-14
Type: Dynamic
Internet Address: A number that’s assigned in order to identify a network host on the Internet, it’s made up of three different parts, optional subnet number, the network number, and the host number.
Physical address: The “real” address given to a network card, it has to be put onto an address bus in order to access the physical memory bank or device.
Type: A descriptor of the operations and data that are able to be executed on/by the data.
Dynamic: (Specific dynamic unknown, so I’ll use the one at the top of my search) One of the sub-groups of RAM, DRAM need to be constantly “refreshed” in order to hold its data.
Bibliography – Google Define searches (Various sources)http://www.wikipedia.com/
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
WLAN and you (And everyone else in range of the signal)
WLANs (Wireless Local Area Network) are an easy way for Internet users to connect to the Internet without the need of physically connecting their computer into a network. While certainly a useful feature, especially in areas that have many Internet users who need to go do their business while staying connected to the Internet, there are a number of offsets that can make this technology troublesome. Not only is it taxing on an Internet server, (Wireless Internet takes up more bandwidth for less uploading and downloading speed) but also dangerous. Most WLANs are easy for a experienced hacker to hijack, allowing them to download illegal programs etc., copy credit card information that’s sent across the wireless, and send viruses to other users, all while remaining just another anonymous user on the wireless. It’s nearly impossible to track a hacker who’s using someone else’s wireless Internet, and many innocent people have been prosecuted for the illegal acquirement of programs when in reality it was a hacker who was “piggybacking” the wireless signal. However, there are a number of ways to protect your wireless Internet (Or from going on a dangerous wireless Internet). Here are four different problems, each with they’re own solution, or at least a way of minimizing the damage.
1) Illegitimate wireless access points- An extremely effective form of scamming, a skilled black hat (A hacker who does hacking for the sake of causing damage. There are also other categories of hackers known as white hats are known as hackers for the benefit of others, such as drivers that boost a computer’s power, and grey hats, who just generally mess around with program codes.) hijacks a computer network and then, using special software, routes it through his (Or her) computer. This creates a wireless Internet access point that originates from his computer. Usually set up in an area where there is normally pay-for-wireless-internet, the hacker creates his own payment form for any hapless Internet users who connect to his server. In order to access the Internet, the user enters their credit card information onto the form so that they can be billed, meanwhile obliviously sending it to the hacker as well. In a matter of minutes a black hat can spend thousands of dollars using the pirated credit card information. The only true way to avoid this is by never entering your credit card information on an unknown network. If you MUST get on the Internet, make sure to ask an employee who would know about their wireless Internet network and what the specifics of it are, so as to avoid any confusion in which are the legitimate Internet providers.
2) The spread spectrum – Many 802.11 wireless LAN protocol standards utilize the spread spectrum. This special modulation technique was created back in World War 2 in order to prevent the jamming of radio signals. Later (Much later technology wise) LANs began to appear, roughly around and in the 1990’s. Back then the Internet companies declared that the spread spectrum was top-of-the-line security for early adopters of wireless networks. The spread spectrum operates by “spreading” connection codes in a discreet way, technically making it impossible for an illegitimate user to access the wireless Internet if they didn’t know the access codes. The flaw with this supposedly flawless system was that 802.11 standards force the code to be displayed publicly so that different companies would be able to communicate with each other. Because of this a any hacker with a 802.11-compliant radio NIC to be able to connect to the Internet, and because of this the spread spectrum is rendered nearly useless. While it is possible to disable the public code distribution, it isn’t particularly effective since every time you wanted the Internet to allow a new user to work on it, you have to give them the codes. This is not only a hassle, but also means one more mouth for the spectrum codes to be spread by.
3) WEP (Wireless Encryption Protection) – This old security fix encrypts each file that is sent through the wi-fi. This allows the user to send private e-mails, passwords, usernames, credit card numbers etc. without worrying about it getting into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, people place too much trust in it. A flawed system, it’s only able to make a code up to 40 characters, and due to government policies is not allowed to use special code characters. A half-decent hacker can find out the WEP code in a matter of minutes with the right software (For example, AirSnort). There are a number of ways to increase its reliability, such as randomizing the code (Hackers usually use “dictionary” searches, randomly testing codes from words from the dictionary to see if they unlock the system) and using certain types of software that will occasionally change the WEP code. However, the best way to solve the problem is to simply upgrade to WEP2/WAP2. So far its code has proven to be nigh-unbreakable.
4) SSIDs (Service Set Identifier) – The only security setting necessary for a LAN to be set up, it works by making it a requirement for the computer that’s trying to access the Internet to have the same SSID password as the LAN network. The problem with this is that most access points literally hand out their SSID code every broadcast (Not even second apart). Older computer hackers would have had to use a program such as AiroPeek to get the code, but now Windows XP has an automatic “sniffer” and can usually get the job done by itself. While the broadcaster can manually shut off the SSID from broadcasting its code, it can still be gleaned by a hacker if they use a technique known as “framing”. By tracking the frames sent to a receiver, they can copy the code from the receiver. Not only that, but most users of SSID don’t even bother to change the code from its manufacturer’s standard. A few hours of “war driving” (Driving around and actively hacking into Wi-fi enabled areas, then marking them down for later use and abuse) and you’ll have sets of the same SSID code. There isn’t much one can do to increase the security of SSID codes other then shutting off it’s broadcast. The best way to avoid such a problem is to use any of the other security features.
Bibliography –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLAN
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wirelessproducts/g/bldef_wlan.htm
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2002/04/19/security.html
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/1457211
1) Illegitimate wireless access points- An extremely effective form of scamming, a skilled black hat (A hacker who does hacking for the sake of causing damage. There are also other categories of hackers known as white hats are known as hackers for the benefit of others, such as drivers that boost a computer’s power, and grey hats, who just generally mess around with program codes.) hijacks a computer network and then, using special software, routes it through his (Or her) computer. This creates a wireless Internet access point that originates from his computer. Usually set up in an area where there is normally pay-for-wireless-internet, the hacker creates his own payment form for any hapless Internet users who connect to his server. In order to access the Internet, the user enters their credit card information onto the form so that they can be billed, meanwhile obliviously sending it to the hacker as well. In a matter of minutes a black hat can spend thousands of dollars using the pirated credit card information. The only true way to avoid this is by never entering your credit card information on an unknown network. If you MUST get on the Internet, make sure to ask an employee who would know about their wireless Internet network and what the specifics of it are, so as to avoid any confusion in which are the legitimate Internet providers.
2) The spread spectrum – Many 802.11 wireless LAN protocol standards utilize the spread spectrum. This special modulation technique was created back in World War 2 in order to prevent the jamming of radio signals. Later (Much later technology wise) LANs began to appear, roughly around and in the 1990’s. Back then the Internet companies declared that the spread spectrum was top-of-the-line security for early adopters of wireless networks. The spread spectrum operates by “spreading” connection codes in a discreet way, technically making it impossible for an illegitimate user to access the wireless Internet if they didn’t know the access codes. The flaw with this supposedly flawless system was that 802.11 standards force the code to be displayed publicly so that different companies would be able to communicate with each other. Because of this a any hacker with a 802.11-compliant radio NIC to be able to connect to the Internet, and because of this the spread spectrum is rendered nearly useless. While it is possible to disable the public code distribution, it isn’t particularly effective since every time you wanted the Internet to allow a new user to work on it, you have to give them the codes. This is not only a hassle, but also means one more mouth for the spectrum codes to be spread by.
3) WEP (Wireless Encryption Protection) – This old security fix encrypts each file that is sent through the wi-fi. This allows the user to send private e-mails, passwords, usernames, credit card numbers etc. without worrying about it getting into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, people place too much trust in it. A flawed system, it’s only able to make a code up to 40 characters, and due to government policies is not allowed to use special code characters. A half-decent hacker can find out the WEP code in a matter of minutes with the right software (For example, AirSnort). There are a number of ways to increase its reliability, such as randomizing the code (Hackers usually use “dictionary” searches, randomly testing codes from words from the dictionary to see if they unlock the system) and using certain types of software that will occasionally change the WEP code. However, the best way to solve the problem is to simply upgrade to WEP2/WAP2. So far its code has proven to be nigh-unbreakable.
4) SSIDs (Service Set Identifier) – The only security setting necessary for a LAN to be set up, it works by making it a requirement for the computer that’s trying to access the Internet to have the same SSID password as the LAN network. The problem with this is that most access points literally hand out their SSID code every broadcast (Not even second apart). Older computer hackers would have had to use a program such as AiroPeek to get the code, but now Windows XP has an automatic “sniffer” and can usually get the job done by itself. While the broadcaster can manually shut off the SSID from broadcasting its code, it can still be gleaned by a hacker if they use a technique known as “framing”. By tracking the frames sent to a receiver, they can copy the code from the receiver. Not only that, but most users of SSID don’t even bother to change the code from its manufacturer’s standard. A few hours of “war driving” (Driving around and actively hacking into Wi-fi enabled areas, then marking them down for later use and abuse) and you’ll have sets of the same SSID code. There isn’t much one can do to increase the security of SSID codes other then shutting off it’s broadcast. The best way to avoid such a problem is to use any of the other security features.
Bibliography –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLAN
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wirelessproducts/g/bldef_wlan.htm
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2002/04/19/security.html
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/1457211
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