Secure Your Wireless Network: Protect Against Data Intruders - Research Paper

Introduction

Wireless security concerns the state where there is the prevention of the unauthorized access r even the damage of the data or computers by the use of wireless networks, such as the use of WI-FI networks. Such networks contain the programs which have been developed by the data intruders, to be used in the delegation of ill motives in other people's information systems in the computers. Thus, there should is the use of the antidote wireless networks, which are assessed using number of tools such as Samurai framework, Nmap, OpenVAS, Safe3 scanner, Nikto, Samurai, SQLMap, as well as the aircraft, the Metasploit, and the Wireshark (Banerjee, Vashishtha, & Saxena, 2010). They are used in the assessment of the vulnerability of any given wireless networks to avoid the risk of getting the data illegally accessed and destroyed by network crackers, which can infringe with the functionality of the firewalls and other managed components of the network to guard the data. In the end, they help in the unearthing of the software vulnerabilities which can then be addressed to avoid the malicious techies from penetrating the systems though them, either for the person or even the commercial gains. In the paper at hand, the focus is made on the Wireshark wireless network assessment tool.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Figure 1: Wireshark Internet Protocol addresses

Figure 2: Wireshark user interface

Wireshark tool works by the principle of the requirements of the assessment tools, where they are required to find clear happenings within the network. It, thus, works through the promiscuous mode where it will then be able to capture all the traffic which belong to the Transmission Control Protocol broadcast domain (Banerjee, Vashishtha, & Saxena, 2010. In this regard, having captured all the wireless traffic, there is the used of the customized filters which are set up to intercept certain specific traffic. An example of such customized filters is the one which is set to capture the communications between two Internet Protocol addresses.

Another one is that modified to capture the Domain Name System queries which are based on the User Datagram Protocol on the network at hand. There is then the traffic information which can be dumped and located in the capture files which are created. Such captured data are stored for later review. During the review process of the collected traffic data, there could be the setting up of other capture filters to assess the activities within the network. In the capture, filters have the testers which have been set to look for some of the stray Internet Protocol addresses, the unnecessary drops of the packet, the spoofed packets, as well as the generations rooting from single Internet Protocol addresses and are thus termed as being suspicious. Cumulatively, Wireshark can provide the wider as well as the clear pictures of the activities which are taking place within the network. The only setback with the assessment tool is that it does not possess its intelligence. Thus, there should be the specialization of its use to the provision of traffic data within the network. It, however, possesses a very great Graphical User Interface, hence enabling anybody, even with only the basic knowledge to operate it (Banerjee, Vashishtha, & Saxena, 2010).

It can be understood that Wireshark is currently the protocol analyzer of the networks, which is the foremost hence quite widely used. The users can be able to see the happenings on the network at a microscopic perspective. It is, thus, a matter of the fact that it is the standard being used across various commercial as well as the nonprofit enterprise, the educational institutions, and the government agencies. It was pioneered in the year 1998 by Gerald Combs, and its development is being enabled by the contributions of the networking experts, voluntarily, across the globe (Chappell, 2017). The use of Wireshark tool in the assessment of the safety of the wireless networks across the world, in which there is the use of the customized filters to collect the network traffic data, is also promoted by various of its features that enrich the customized filters. They are as brought out subsequently.

There is the deep and thorough inspection of infinite Internet Protocol addresses, where there is the addition of more protocols as time goes by. There shall then be the identification of the intruding components through the analysis and identification of their protocols, which will then be blocked or destroyed. Also, the tool possesses such features as the standard browser with three panes, rich analysis of VoIP, and the very powerful display filters compared to the ones in the industry. Others are the browsing of the captured network data using Graphical User Interface or even the use of TShark utility with TTY-mode, the presence of diverse platforms which can run the Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS, as well as the windows (Chappell, 2017). Finally, there is the fact that Wireshark has the output which can be exported to the PostScript, SCV, or plain text. There can be the application of the coloring rules to the packet list to enable fast and intuitive analysis. There is also the availability of the decryption support to many protocols, which include the Kerberos, IPsec, ISAKMP, SNMPv3, or the WEP (Sanders, 2017).

There are some legal ramifications following the use of the Wireshark, and mostly when used illegally. Since it provides the opportunity to monitor, to listen, and to capture the conversations in the network, it is legally acceptable for use by the authorized entities. However, there is the law under Title I, provided under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) (Sanders, 2017). It provides for the control of crime in which private electronic communications are accessed, such as the use of Wireshark to intrude on people's communications. Its infringement attracts a sentence of not less than five years, or the fine of at least $1000 (Banerjee, Vashishtha, & Saxena, 2010). There are the exceptions for the case of service providers or the operators when they sue the Wireshark in their usual courses of employments or in the engagement of the activities in which there are the needs to use the services in pursuing valid purposes.

References

Banerjee, U., Vashishtha, A., & Saxena, M. (2010). Evaluation of the Capabilities of WireShark as a tool for Intrusion Detection. International Journal of computer applications, 6(7), 1-5.

Chappell, L. (2017). Wireshark 101: Essential Skills for Network Analysis-Wireshark Solution Series. Laura Chappell University.

Sanders, C. (2017). Practical packet analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve real-world network problems. No Starch Press.