Securing wireless communications
Wireless communication is pervasive in today's society. Also known as the 802.11 standard (Wi-Fi), this form of communication is a radio wave that can be easily attacked. Some best-practice suggestions to protect Wi-Fi traffic include the following:
- Restrict access by securing your router.
- Use antimalware protection.
- Change the default password on your device.
- Use encryption to protect the data.
In this section, we'll briefly outline why we need to encrypt our wireless traffic, and take a look at some common protocols for Wi-Fi.
Let's start with a discussion on why we need to secure our wireless communications.
Preventing eavesdropping
When sending and receiving wireless transactions on a LAN, there may be sensitive information transmitted. For example, if you are in a coffee shop that offers free internet, the connection might not be encrypted.
Using an unencrypted connection will leave your...