Networking - Considerations Wired or Wireless

How much is your data worth?

One is cheap, one has a higher security rating...

Wired? more secure, lower maintenance and setup, initial cost is high.

Wireless? less secure, higher maintenance and setup, initial cost is lower

Security:

Physical Security -
Wired networks have the highest security because for someone to access your network they have to have physical access to the network; they have to be present in your premises to get access to the network. Very visible to you and/or your employees.

Wireless networks work on a Radio Frequency, there for anyone with the knowledge and some equipment (not really sophisticated spy type stuff either) can tap into your network's radio frequency. Now connecting to your network is a deferent problem, but they can see your network with a laptop and a wireless network card.

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02/15/14 - In the USA the Supreme Court has judged that "There is no expectation of privacy with a radio transmission." i.e.: Your cell phone like your wireless network is a radio transmitter / receiver set there for all transmissions are subject to interception by any other radio receiver. That is why you would use any encryption available for your wireless network and use the strongest possible!

Software Security -
There are different layers of security that software can provide for your network.

Local level security starts at the workstation.

• Setting up a local user id and password is one way, low security.
• Using a Secure Card for access to the local workstation, medium security.
• Having a local domain with the security that a domain controller provides is the better security.
• Using both the Secure Card reader and domain log on is the highest security.
• There is only one step above this and that is to encrypt the workstation hard drive.

Local level security for your network.

• Setting up a local network with a domain will provide you with medium to high Security.
• To gain access to a local workstation a user must be authenticated by the domain controller.
• Authentication is a user id created and maintained by the domain controller and a password.
• To increase security on a domain various things can be done, such as enforcing password complexity, encrypting the password, insuring the password is changed with a given schedule, and lock out of the user id after a certain number of attempts that have failed..

Wired or Wireless a scenario:

04/09/14 - When I used a netbook to setup my VPN Server I ran into a small problem. Like a firewall / proxy server I needed two dissimilar network cards. The netbook has one wired NIC and one wireless NIC, but it only has two USB ports. Rather than buying a USB NIC I decided to use the wireless connection for the WAN side of the VPN server and the wired connection for my LAN. This is not the best solution but is is a cheaper solution. The VPN server is only powered up when we travel. At sometime in the future I will purchase a USB NIC for the WAN connection and disable the wireless NIC to increase the security of the VPN Server.