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Technology

SMEs Need to be Alert about War-driving

Ajay Goel
Sep 2011

It is tough to imagine business offices operating without wireless networks in today's world where connectivity and data transfer is expected to be fast and efficient. Wi- fi connections are virtually omnipresent across business environments and SMB offices are no exception. Many businesses run smoothly on the back bone of a speedy and reliable wireless internet network. But as the threat landscape evolves, small businesses owners can no longer afford to relax thinking that cybercriminals would focus only on large corporations.

So it should not come as a surprise that cyber criminals are now focusing on exploiting wireless networks for illicit gain. This technique is referred to as war-driving, which involves a continuous search for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer, PDA etc.

The threat of war-driving increases each day as more and more wireless networks can potentially be compromised by cyber criminals.

SMBs that have insecure or open wireless access points are at risk of falling victim to war-driving tactics, they fail to understand that anyone without accessing the internet can still access lot of sensitive information. War-driving hardware can detect a wireless network from up to five miles away and there are programs that search out and automatically attempt to gain access and catalog wireless networks. It's not just open/insecure wireless access points that are vulnerable. Many small businesses have older wireless access points that use an inferior encryption technology called WEP, which war-driving software programs can crack in seconds.

So what can they access? Hackers can have free access to all business data or corporate internet. This includes access to various files and computers, containing financial records and confidential information. It's possible to also steal bandwidth to crack into computers or send spam. According to Symantec's 2010 Global SMB Information Protection Survey – India Findings, businesses of all sizes have to deal with unforeseen attacks at one point of time or other, but it is the SMB segment which is the most vulnerable to these constantly evolving forms of cybercrimes. Any kind of data breach can cause significant damages to their business reputation, revenues, as well as decline in customer trust.

As the usage of Wi-Fi connections increases, protecting information goes beyond just implementing an antivirus solution. Here are some tips to help protect your business from war-driving tactics:

Implement a modern encryption standard –Use WPA-PSK or WPA2 encryption or higher. Using By using encryption, you can secure the entry point. If the wireless router doesn't include WPA2, get a new one.
Use a passphrase for the encryption password- Passphrases are typically longer than passwords –20 to 30 characters or more is typical.
Use a secure password on your wireless router- It is recommended that you never use the default password! Passwords should be complex and unique. Strong passwords have eight characters or more and use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols (e.g., # $ % ! ?)
Stop broadcasting the name of your wireless network, also known as SSID, and change the name to something other than the default.
Limit the computers that can access your network-Allow only certain MAC addresses (specific IDs tied to the networking hardware) to access your network.
Protect the administrator interface-Ensure the administrator interface of the wireless router is available only from within the network.

Cyber criminals are highly opportunistic, keen to exploit the new vulnerabilities that arise in security infrastructure of small businesses. It is wise to nip every new threat in the bud so that it does not grow to become a credible threat. War-driving is one such threat, SMBs cannot afford to sit back and watch as the threat to their confidential data develops into a serious problem.

Ajay Goel is Managing Director,

India & SAARC, Symantec.

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