Local Network Security

There is a false sense of security experienced when someone is blissfully ignorant of certain details or lead to believe that they are indeed safe. For something that is practically essential to human life in an industrial nation, this false sense of security is a hidden danger. With so many people accessing a necessity and not realizing that this technology is insecure, there is an obvious problem. Unfortunately, a lot of people are nice and cozy with their ignorance of the issue. These people rely on the internet for various activities on a daily basis. Most computer users have some basic sense of safety while using the internet: they don't enter personal information online, abstain from clicking advertisements and refrain from visiting illegitimate sites. However, these people that are aware of the dangers on the internet have no concept of the security flaws on their local network. People know threats exist on the network globally, yet they remain ignorant of the local threats. This gives an attacker on a local network a terrifying advantage; all the while, only using techniques for network administration. Wired and wireless networks are not secure and are easily compromised by those who have the knowledge and authority to exploit such insecurities.

Interestingly enough, these methods focus entirely on a local network, meaning the users don't need to have access to the internet. This appears to be a trivial argument where the threats are non-existent if no one actually uses this type of network. The situation is quite the contrary; these local networks are used almost exclusively for providing internet access to multiple individuals. Throw in several thousand users at a large research institution or university an...

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...a centers, administrators need to fulfill certain tasks – and from those tasks spawn tools used to compromise machines. By all means, the creators, whose work depends on these tools, have complete authority to do what they deem best. However, there is a fine line where the activity stops being a utility and starts to become an exploit. Hence, the authority lies in the intentions of what people plan to do with their power. Just because they know how to do something, doesn't allow them to flaunt their abilities at will. The people with authority are those who can refrain themselves. They know exactly what effect the software and techniques can cause. Hopefully, the responsible network administrators and others who prove themselves authoritative use their knowledge to further understand security holes and protect those who may not be aware of the inherent dangers.