The Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP):
WEP provides securities for the wireless local area network; hence, it is designed to provide the same security level as wired LAN. However, the inherent physical structure of wired LAN provides more protection from unauthorized access. WEP encrypts data over radio waves to protect the transmission from one end to another end. The WEP is not capable of offering end-to-end securities and is used at the physical layer and data link of the OSI model. WEP has a key scheduling flaw and is considered insecure. Automated tools can be used to crack a WEP key within a short time (Stallings, 2003).
The Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA):
WPA was developed due to the need to improve the WEP’s security features. WPA is designed to work with existing WEP-enabled Wi-Fi products. WPA has two important improvements over WEP. The first improvement is the use of the temporal integrity protocol (TKIP) to provide improved encryption of data. TKIP uses hashing algorithms to scramble keys and adds a feature that checks integrity to ensure that there is no tampering with the keys. The second improvement is the use of the extensible authentication protocol (EAP) in user identification. EAP is based on a system of secure public-key encryption to ensure that access is granted only to authorized network users. The WEP does not have the EAP (Zhang, 2012).
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2):
It is the latest protocol for wireless security, and it allows only authorized users to access a wireless device. It has features which support stronger authentication control such as EAP, stronger cryptography such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), data integrity, replay attack protection, and key management. The WPA2 uses the Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol, which is abbreviated as CCMP, to protect the confidentiality of the data by ensuring that only authorized network users receive it. The system uses cipher blocks to ensure message integrity.
The facility should use WPA2 to encode wireless communications. WPA2 is the current standard for encryption, and it has newer and better features. Provide advanced encryption and do not affect performance due to newer hardware. It uses AES to replace TRIP and provide stronger encryption. The system provides a stronger authentication due to the use of EAP (Zhang, 2012). Also, the system has a more seamless roaming, which does not require the clients to authenticate again when he or she use the same network to move from one AP to another. WPA2 has a higher encryption speed than WPA and WEP.
Cyber-Attack Prevention
The widespread use of technology has increased the level of cyber-attack. Cyberattacks are a threat to most organizations that use current technologies. Cyber-security is the practice of infrastructure protection that involves detection, prevention, and response to cyber-attack incidents. Threats relating to cyber-attacks are often difficult to comprehend and identify, unlike physical threats. Therefore, health facilities should use better methods to prevent cyber-attacks (Ayala, 2016).
The Use Of Firewalls:
Firewalls check the information that the user’s computer communicates with anyone else. They guard against communication from other sources. Firewalls can be used as the second layer of protection against various cyber-attacks. However, firewalls are viewed by many as inconveniencing since they monitor all the communications that are made by a computer. Most firewalls have the option of configuring to check from untrusted sources only.
Cybersecurity Training:
The employees should be provided with adequate training on cyber-attacks to increase awareness. Regular training should be provided to increase effectiveness. The training should focus on user security policies, acceptable security practices and various ways of preventing security breaches. During training, prior mistakes should be used as examples. It should be interactive and engaging to make the employees understand cyber-attack prevention methods.
Updating Of Software:
The use of updated software can help protect an organization against cyber-attacks. HP conducted a survey showing that 85% of targeted cyber-attacks can be avoided if software is regularly updated. Therefore, it is important to update the software to new versions. Usually, updating software fixes the vulnerability that is present in the previous software (Ayala, 2016).
Conclusion
Both the wired and wireless communications are vulnerable to security threats. Unauthorized persons can access the data transmitted if it is not well protected through encryption techniques. The increasing advancement of technology increases the security threats to most systems. Various potential security threats have been identified. A2 is the best encryption technique that the facility should use. Cyber-attacks can be prevented in the facility through the use of firewalls, regular updating software, and employee training.
References
Ayala, L. (2016). Cybersecurity for Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities: A Guide to Detection and Prevention.
Stallings, W. (2003). Cryptography and network security: principles and practice. Pearson Education India.
Zhang, Y. (2012). Future Wireless Networks and Information Systems [recurso electrónico]: Volume 1. Alemania: Springer Healthcare Ltd.
