Business wi-fi network make it an essential service for most organisations. Unfortunately, many businesses lack the necessary resources and cyber skills to secure their network correctly. This can create security risks because an unsecured network leaves the company vulnerable to attacks from threat actors who will use an unsecured wi-fi point to gain access to the network and exfiltrate customer information.

What is Wireless Network Security?

Wireless security prevents unauthorised access or damage to computers using wireless networks.

Several different types of security measures can be used to protect wi-fi networks. The most common type of security is wi-fi Protected Access (WPA), a technology that was developed in response to the weaknesses of Wire Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

WPA3 security is the most recent version of WPA and is the most secure of all wi-fi security types. WPA3 uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to encrypt data sent over a wireless network.

What Type of Security Is Needed on a Wireless Network?

The type of security you need depends on the type of wireless network you have. If you have a small pharmacy network, you may only need to use WPA2 or WPA3. However, suppose you have a larger network with many staff and services relying on the network. In that case, you may need to use cloud security best practices and other types of security, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or firewalls, to filter and segregate the network from multiple threat sources.

When configuring security for a wireless network, it’s essential to use strong passwords and enforced encryption. Changing your passwords regularly and using different passwords for different networks is also necessary. Avoid using personal information, simple words, business names or anything that threat actors could easily guess.

Why Is Wireless Network Security Important? 

Wireless network security is vital because it helps protect your business and its critical data from unauthorised access. Wi-fi networks are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks because they use radio waves to transmit data; anyone within the wi-fi signal can potentially intercept and read the data being sent.

Specialist devices have been developed to test the security of wi-fi networks. One device that is commonly used by penetration testers is a device called a wi-fi pineapple. A wi-fi Pineapple can be used as a rogue access point (AP) to conduct a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack. A MiTM attack is when the attacker secretly intercepts and relays messages between two parties that believe they are communicating directly with each other. While designed to help secure networks, they can also be used to break into networks, as demonstrated in this short clip.

How Do I Make My Pharmacy Wi-Fi More Secure?