Security measures in wired and wireless networks
ISIICT'09 Proceedings of the Third international conference on Innovation and Information and Communication Technology
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Wireless access on college campuses facilitates the spread of computer viruses and worms due to laptops that do not have current software patches and/or antivirus protection connecting to the network. Wireless local area networks provide a luxury of mobility to clients so that they may roam about without the restriction of wires, room, and/or buildings. At the same time, wireless local area networks have given birth to a new breed of network weaknesses that are compounding and exploiting current local area network vulnerabilities. Today's college campuses present students and professors with a unique environment of network connectivity. Workstations and laptops have the ability to connect to the campus network either through wired or wireless access points. The popularity of wireless mobility has generated an influx of wireless clients on college campuses throughout the United States. However, the popularity has not been as eagerly received by network administrators. Because a great majority of these users lack the knowledge and/or experience to implement best practices such as installing the latest security patches and antivirus software protection or properly configuring firewalls, college campus networks are experiencing high levels of unwanted malicious activity. Network engineers have implemented quick fixes such as "Blacklists" that keep track of infected computers, denying access until properly patched and cleaned. However, this is a labor-intensive temporary solution that requires user involvement, not a fully functional system that automates all the necessary security updates and antivirus software installations as well as assuring proper firewall configuration. An enormous challenge is being faced to keep wireless clients updated with security patches, antivirus protection, and firewall configurations. Viruses and worms are released daily, escalating the problem of keeping wireless clients updated. In response, an automated wireless security patch management system can alleviate the aggravation and overhead associated with the wireless clients. In addition, a wireless security patch management system will also increase the networks information security structure. This paper focuses on a wireless security patch management/antivirus update system that seeks to remedy the problem presented by wireless clients that are not updated with current security patches, antivirus software, and weak or no firewall settings.