Network Security Issues in Context of RSNA and Firewall

Abstract

Network Security is a major issue in wired and wireless network. Wireless Network is more vulnerable to attack. Vulnerability is the threat to the network in the form of virus or the way used by attacker in order to breach the security and bypass the security measures. IEEE 802.11i and 802.11-2007 provides RSNA methods for wireless network security. WECA, the alliance for Wi-Fi devices provides WPA2 modes of security. The responsibility of network administer is to provide network resources to the legitimate and authorized users and at the same is to protect it from illegitimate and misuse by unauthorized, immoral unlawful clients and cyber criminals and also to find the solution for the other security threats such as Phishing, malware and malicious code. The Network resources are made available by way of authentication and authorization of users. The protection against illegal and misuse of network is taken place by applying some RSNA and WPA2 Methods. But these authentications, authorizations and protections of RSNA and WPA2 modes are weak and vulnerable to numerous attacks and its advanced version such as 802.11n with AES gets compatibility issues with software as well as with hardware. This Paper, by developing a practical network scenario and configuring its devices according to various RSNA and WPA2 modes examines these security measures and conclude that these security methods are not sufficient and requires more other measures. These others measures such as web browser compatibilities, OS effectiveness, firewall and hardware security modules have been taken into account in order to develop a secure wireless Network Model. Various Network Monitoring tools have also been used to show that how easily the security is breached and/or bypassed. General Terms Network, Security, RSNA, 802.11, firewall, Phishing