How LA Accounting Firms
Are Securing Wireless Networks
Courtesy of FPA Technology Services, Inc.
http://www.TechGuideforLACPAs.com
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While making every effort
to ensure your applications
are easily accessible to
your staff (and increasing
their productivity),
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it’s equally, if not more
important to ensure that
the information on your
network is safe and secure
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You can’t be too careful when
it comes to locking down your
Wireless Local Area Network,
or WLAN
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Hardware, such as
Wireless Intrusion Prevention
Systems (WIPS) and encryption
application software
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are just a couple
of the safeguards you can
put in place when securing
wireless networks
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If you have a wireless access
point, or set of them in your
office, and need to have some
users accessing the network
via Wi-Fi,
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at a minimum make sure
you have a secure password
in place
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A guest wireless network
is a good practice, and hiding
any corporate wireless network
from rogue scanning hardware
is a great idea as well
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If you are a wireless technology
newbie, you might look at
the litany of acronyms and
want to keep your network
PCs hardwired forever
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Here are but a few of the
acronyms:
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• WEP – Wired Equivalent
Privacy
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• 802.11 and EAP – A wireless
protocol (standard) and
Extensible Authentication
Protocol
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• WWANs – Wireless Wide Area
Networks
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• WPANs – Wireless Personal
Area Networks
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• WPA and WPA2 – Wi-Fi
Protected Access and
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2,
the current standard
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Wireless security devices and
encryption apps are a start,
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however workstations should
be configured for Anti-Virus
and Anti-Malware software,
and employees should
continue be vigilant against
opening attachments
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or responding to emails which
are suspicious and might be
possible phishing attempts
(especially during tax season)
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Wireless Intrusion Prevention
Systems (WIPS) are ideal
defenses to implement, and
available from companies like:
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• SonicWALL
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• Cisco
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• Symantec
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• Airtight Networks
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• Aruba Networks
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WIPS systems can identify
rogue devices accessing
your network and shut
their access down
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If you close down your office
over the weekend, you might
want to consider turning off
your gateway over
the weekend,
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or as mentioned before, hiding
the network entirely
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Two factor authentication
(something you know, like a
password, as well as something
you have, like a cellphone/
SMS message)
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is becoming a popular way
of accessing Wireless Networks
instead of a password
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Accounting firm managers
should remember, it’s not just
the data on your network,
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but the usage of your network
in general which can leave
your company at risk
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What systems or policies
has your firm put in place for
securing wireless networks?
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Have you experienced a loss
of client data or been exposed
to malware on your wireless
local area network?
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When was the last time
you had a security assessment
performed on your WLAN?
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