Enoch Phetteplace
NTC/362
June 1, 2015
Professor Fernando Casafranca
Kudler Fine foods is adding a new It system to their organization. This system is meant to improve communication both between the three existing locations and their customers. The system is also to be made available for future expansion of additional locations and internet purchasing from their clientele. With the addition of the new communication system, new challenges will arise. Specifically, we need to identify what hardware and or software will be needed to secure the network from outside attacks. Internet security as well as company server security are of great importance to KFF. Company files, proprietary inventories, and customer information all need to be accessed by company employees, and thus must be secure from outside sources. An additional explanation of the Local Area Network, needs to be offered to better understand the use of the new technologies including routers, switches and cabling techniques. We are installing equipment to provide WLAN services to each location, a wireless router is one of the pieces of the puzzle. A wireless router or more appropriately called a wireless hub will be installed at each or the three current locations. The wireless hub acts much the same as a wired hub, in that it is a gateway between the DSL modem, for Internet access, and the network hard drive. Like a wire-based network, the hub is a central location that all computers connect to, providing the computers with network access (Gookin, 2013). The wireless hubs available of today also serve as routers which are used as access points for all of the devices within the network system. Network information cards or NIC’s are required for all computers on the network to communicate with the wireless hub. The current lap top computers already have a NIC so no installation is needed for them. However, a NIC will be installed in all existing desk top computers to facilitate communication with the hub and essentially, the Internet. While many people do not completely understand the importance and necessity of a firewall, or consider it to be a product for businesses only, if your network or computer has access to the outside world via the Internet then you need have a firewall to protect your network, individual computer and data therein (Beal, 2010). A firewall is a protective system that forms a barrier between network and the Internet, and will prevent unauthorized use and access to your network (Beal, 2010). A firewall can be put in place by using either hardware or software. An ideal situation would include both. Therefore the wireless hub or router we are using is equipped with a WPA encryption key. WPA is the current standards based WLAN security. It is an enhanced wireless security environment that uses a temporal key to encrypt and decrypt information passing through the router.
WPA Encryption WPA includes three main elements: Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), Message Integrity Code (MIC), and 802.1X authentication framework. The TKIP uses a 304 bit key (a 128-bit base key plus a 128-bit IV plus the 48-bit MAC address) and generates new encryption keys after various configurable intervals, which makes it much more difficult to break (Goleniewski, 2007). The MIC creates a digital signature for each frame to ensure that messages are not tampered with or captured during transmission (Goleniewski, 2007). The 802.1X is an internet protocol that defines how the router will authenticate the identity of wireless (and wired) clients. The WPA standard generates unique keys for each associated client computer and takes care of distributing them securely. In addition to the WPA encrypted router, each of the mobile devices, including tablets, lap tops and smart phones connected to the network will be equipped with a software firewall and virus detection. To accommodate customers, KFF will provide them with a specific password to connect to the Wi-Fi
