WiFi Security: Assessment of threats in wireless networks
08/03/2024Wifi connectivity has gone from being limited to restricted environments to becoming omnipresent in virtually every aspect of our daily lives. The ability to connect to the Internet from anywhere, be it at home, in a café, at work, in public spaces, or even in-flight, has enhanced the convenience in our daily lives. Moreover, the expansion of Wifi networks and the use of new manufacturing technologies now allow the interconnection of devices, leading to the significant rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and providing users with more comprehensive control over their digital environments. However, this proliferation of Wifi networks has also given rise to new threats that require careful evaluation and effective security strategies to ensure secure and risk-free Wifi connections for our data and information. Common Wifi security threats include data interception Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks One of the fundamental challenges in Wifi security is preventing MITM attacks, where an intruder inserts themselves into the communication between two parties, compromising the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive data such as passwords and financial information. Spoofing of access points Hackers can create fake Wifi networks that mimic legitimate ones to attract unsuspecting users. Once connected to these malicious networks, our data can be captured by cybercriminals who may sell or misuse it for illicit purposes. Tips for achieving a secure Wifi connection: Strengthen authentication and use security protocols Prioritize strong encryption for networks to protect confidential information transmitted through it. WPA (Wifi Protected Access) encryption uses stronger algorithms than its predecessor, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), making it more difficult for hackers to intercept and decipher data. Advanced security protocols like WPA3 provide individualized data encryption and advanced two-factor authentication (2FA) methods, adding an extra layer of security by requiring additional verification. Device management Properly manage and monitor devices connected to Wifi networks to minimize risks associated with the large number of connected devices in homes and businesses. Regularly update the router firmware and all connected devices to address potential vulnerabilities. Segmentation of the network to separate critical devices from less secure ones also helps mitigate the risk of threat propagation. Secure Router Configuration The router secure configuration is what will ensure the robustness and overall security of a wireless network. The router, being the first point of contact for devices connected to the Internet, acts as the first line of defence against potential attacks. For this reason, it is important to understand that the proper configuration of the router not only guarantees a stable and efficient connection but also establishes a protected environment that safeguards the integrity and privacy of our data. How to configure the router securely? To ensure a correct and secure configuration of the router, it is recommended to: Change the default username and password of the router, as these are easily accessible to attackers. Use strong passwords containing a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. Disable remote administration to prevent cybercriminals from accessing the router externally. Enable WPA2 or WPA3 encryption instead of the outdated WEP for enhanced network security. Optionally, disable SSID broadcast to make the network less visible and harder to detect by hackers. Keep the router firmware updated to address vulnerabilities and improve overall device security. By following these steps, you will strengthen the security of your wireless network and reduce the chances of experiencing unwanted attacks or intrusions.
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How can I hide my IP?
Accessing the Internet involves connecting our computer, smartphone, tablet, etc. to a communications server that is responsible for providing access to the network. This connection involves the identification and exchange of data about our identity, IP address, and online activities that are recorded forever as a trace of our navigation. Can I be tracked through my IP address? Yes, it is possible to trace an IP address and for those who consider privacy a priority, this is a major problem because, in addition to being exposed throughout the network, the increasingly intensive use of the Internet has led to this type of data becoming an object of interest for cybercriminals seeking personal or confidential information that can be used for their benefit. To safeguard against all this, there are several methods to hide the IP address, ensure our online privacy, improve our security on the Internet, and prevent anyone from knowing what pages we visit, the time we have spent on every connection, or what we are downloading. What are the advantages of hiding my IP? Apart from everything related to privacy and security already mentioned, hiding the IP offers different advantages for users in multiple circumstances: There are IP hiding services that prevent IP geolocation when we travel and allow us to connect to the network as if we were doing it from our own country, overcoming, for example, any network access limitations that may exist in the place where we are. We will be able to download files anonymously avoiding that the rest of the users can see our IP location. If our IP is not "in sight", the possible limitations and blockages of the Wi-Fi network and even of our ISP (Internet Service Provider) disappear. Thanks to the data encryption system of the most advanced IP hiding services, our vulnerability in connections to public Wi-Fi networks is minimized. When the system detects a location different from the real one, this can give us advantages to buy in online stores with different offers according to the country or to avoid the blocking of games, maps, and online game add-ons that may have restrictions on our location. How can I hide my IP? IP hiding is achieved through the use of specific services and tools to hide the IP and encrypt our traffic, those services allow us to hide the real communications we make during our navigation. Besides those techniques that are based on the modification of network protocols and require certain skills to carry them out, there are several technologies within the reach of all users: VPN or Virtual Private Network Proxy or Web proxy Tor Public Wifi How to hide the IP address with a VPN? VPNs are services that connect us to the Internet through intermediate servers, in which our original IP address is " masked " by the IP address of that secure server. This concealment ensures that anyone tracing our connection will only see the IP address and location of the VPN server, but not our own. In addition, to safeguard our activity on the network, VPNs use tunneling and data encryption, encrypting the information we exchange with the VPN server, hiding it, and preventing third parties from being able to read it during its transit. The security of VPN connections is determined by proprietary VPN protocols, based on different standards and encryption and authentication methods, which depend on each developer. The range of options is wide and this allows us to choose between, for example, options that prioritize speed over security, options that do the opposite, options with a greater or lesser degree of reliability, etc. VPN applications always run in the background and do not hinder browsing. How to use a proxy server to hide the IP address? Unlike VPN services, proxy servers focus their activity solely on hiding the IP, without performing any type of concealment on our network traffic or any other data that could reveal our identity. Proxy servers act as intermediaries between our device and the destination server to which they transmit our requests on our behalf. Therefore, our IP will be hidden and the only one they will see will be the proxy one. There are different types of proxy services, from the simplest ones that only help us to hide the IP to others with extra functionalities such as blocking cookies, scripts, and other files hosted on websites and sent to the user. Browsers or applications based on the HTTP protocol offer the manual proxy configuration function so that we can indicate the proxy web address and port to which we want to connect before browsing. In this way, any activity that we perform through that browser will always be routed to the proxy. Alternatively, you can also opt for the automatic proxy format that searches through DNS or DHCP for the URL from which to download the wpad.dat file that runs and allows the proxy connection with automatic authentication on your computer. How to hide your IP with Tor? Tor is a free software developed to ensure anonymous browsing of users on the Internet. To mask the IP Tor uses a network of volunteer computers or nodes through which it redirects our traffic and encrypts it before it reaches its destination. At least this redirection goes through three of these nodes, achieving repetitive re-encryptions so that any possible clue about our identity disappears. In this process, Tor assigns a random and geographically different IP to our connection so that the location by third parties is impossible (if you are curious to know the IP you have been assigned you can check it through our tool). This system allows different configurations depending on whether we are using a firewall, if our ISP is blocking Tor connections or if we navigate through proxy for example. Can I hide my IP with a public Wi-Fi connection? The answer is yes. A public Wi-Fi network can also be used to hide our IP address, although if we do not have it constantly at our disposal, the IP hiding is limited to the time we have access to a public network. As this type of network is a connection shared by many other people, this makes it impossible to trace a particular user or identify them on the destination server. However, it is precisely this general access that also makes us more vulnerable. And although through a connection to a public Wi-Fi we will solve the issue of IP hiding, security will never be total, because being an open network, we can be exposed to the will of hackers and other threats, including malware and viruses. And if I want to hide my IP address, how can I change it? It may also be the case that instead of masking the IP all we need to do is change our IP address at a given moment. Then, the solution is as simple as disconnecting the modem from the power supply and restarting it after a few minutes. In that time, if your IP address is dynamic (you can check it through the network connections tab on your computer), it will be deleted and your Internet provider will give you a new one. To make sure that everything went well, we recommend doing something as simple as writing down the IP address before turning off the router and checking it again once it is up and running again. Another possible way to achieve the same result if you have a smartphone with a data plan is to turn this device into a wireless access point to which you can connect your computer, thus hiding your usual connection. There are many options to hide the IP or to change it and now that you know how each of them works you will be able to decide which one suits you best.
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Android 12 allows you to disable 2G networks on your mobile
26/01/2022The latest version of Google's mobile operating system, Android 12, allows you to disable connections through 2G data networks. To do this, you must deactivate this connectivity through the 'Network and Internet' and 'SIM' sections, where you will find the option “allow 2G”, which you can activate or deactivate according to your preferences at any time. As explained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 2G networks has a very vulnerable encryption system and is quite easy that a hacker intercept the signal and track the exact location of the user. Android reports that despite the fact that 2G connectivity is disabled, this coverage will continue to be available for emergency calls.
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Google launches its very own VPN service in Spain
30/08/2021Google has just introduced its very own VPN service in Spain. This VPN is available through the Google One app. It aims to increase the online security of its customers and it is only available for Google One members on 2 TB plans or higher. Google's VPN service hides your IP address so that your online activity can't be tracked and protects your device against hackers when you're on an unsecured network, such as a public Wi-Fi network. However, unlike other VPNs, this one only works in Google's "supported countries" (Spain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States). At present, Google's VPN service is only available on Android devices. Nevertheless, on the VPN's site, Google notes that it plans to expand the service to iOS, Windows, and Mac in the near future.
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Macro cyber-attack affects more than 350 companies worldwide
07/07/2021The number of companies that have suffered from the REvil macro cyberattack now exceeds 350 organizations worldwide from which the cybercriminals are demanding 70 million in bitcoins to provide them with a universal decryptor to restore their data. The attack was conducted through the update system of IT services software company Kaseya, which REvil exploited to spread and hide ransomware. The virus was leaked to TI Kaseya resellers and from there has reached all end customers using their software. The official data provided by TI Kaseya sets the number of affected companies at 350, although other sources such as the cybersecurity company ESET talk about more than 1,000, including some Spanish organizations, although no names have been disclosed. It has been made public that one of the companies most affected by the cyberattack has been the Swedish supermarket chain Coop, which has had to close its more than 800 points of sale for a few days due to the impossibility of using its cash registers or charging customers. Based on Sophos threat intelligence, REvil has been active in recent weeks and is currently the dominant ransomware gang involved in Sophos' defensively managed threat response cases. Prior to this latest attack, they were also responsible for the one suffered by meat company JBS, which forced the cancellation of all work shifts at the company's slaughterhouses in the US. JBS paid up to 11 million to restore normal operations. These macro cyber-attacks are in addition to other recent and highly significant ones, such as the one perpetrated by the hacker group DarkSide, which forced the preventive shutdown of the largest oil pipeline network in the United States, Colonial Pipeline, endangering the supply of fuel in a large part of the country, or the one suffered by the SEPE and the Ministry of Labor in Spain a few weeks ago.
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How to keep your Mac safe?
28/06/20215 things you should do to protect your Mac How many times have we heard that Mac is a more than secure and unbreakable system? For years, Apple has made its security through obscurity, or in other words, its proprietary software, flagship and brand guarantee. Today, however, just when Mac is no longer a minority option, Steve Jobs' system has become another favorite target for hackers and cybercriminals. The market has responded to this with the development of specific protection tools for Mac, while Apple works on optimizing its system in each version. Knowing what kind of tools exist for Mac and which ones are already included in our computer will help us to stay safe and choose the best strategy that fits our needs and use of the equipment. 1. Use computer security tools Cybersecurity is a universal and necessary practice in all operating systems today. The objective is to ensure protection against attacks and theft by cybercriminals who are looking for personal or confidential information stored on our computers or that enters or leaves them, in order to use it for their own benefit. What is VPN security? Cybersecurity tools help us to minimize our footprint on the Internet and thus increase our privacy and security. In this regard, VPN services for Mac stand out, as they incorporate advanced protection technologies capable of connecting to the Internet through intermediate servers, so that our IP address - our identification on the network - is replaced by the IP address of this secure server, without anyone being able to trace our connection. This type of VPN service also encrypts any information leaving our computer, thus preventing it from being accessed on its journey to its destination. This is essential, for example, when using public Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet. 2. Keep the operating system and software up to date As simple as it may seem, one of the best and easiest ways to protect a Mac is to always have the latest version of the operating system installed and to work with updated software downloaded from the Mac App Store. System updates usually include security patches, among other things. How do I update my Mac? Through the System Preferences Panel of our computer we can set that when there are available updates we receive a notice from MacOs warning us of it or that these updates, whether system data files, security updates or official software are installed automatically. To check if we are working with the latest versions available and our Mac is up to date we can do it by checking through this same panel if there are updates available at that time. If we have checked the automatic updates option, Mac will do this task for us routinely. 3. Use secure settings Mac's default security settings can be greatly enhanced by manually configuring the security and privacy terms of our computer. How to change the Privacy and Security preferences on the Mac? By accessing the "Privacy" tab of the "Security and Privacy" option of the Control Panel we will have the option to manage what information we allow our computer to make available to others over the Internet or on a network and what applications we allow access to our data and files. In the same way, but through the "Security" tab, we will be able to incorporate passwords for the access to different tasks and operations of the computer and through the "FileVault" tool we will be able to ensure the encryption, for example, of our personal information or certain documents for which a password will be required to unblock them. 4. Use an Antivirus for Mac There are antivirus programs developed specifically for Mac. Some of them are special for certain threats, although in general most of them offer a wide range of services to help us keep our computers safe. Which is the best antivirus for Mac? The range of antivirus for Mac, free and paid, is nowadays much wider than a few years ago, highlighting among the most complete and advanced, antivirus with malware protection functions in real time, tools against digital identity theft, protection against spyware or advanced detection and removal of blackmail programs. 5. Make regular backups Apple has a native function, Time Machine, which makes backup copies of our hard disk on a separate secondary disk, so that if for any reason we suffer an attack or a breakdown we can recover all the information. Many antiviruses offer a backup service, backup or backup similar but in the cloud, as a preventive measure against writing errors on the disk, theft of devices or even against data hijacking or ransomware.
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