We’re a nation on the brink of significant change.
Thanks to a pandemic, we’re reinventing everything in our daily lives almost overnight. We’re learning from home, working from home, even scheduling meetings and appointments from home in record numbers.
But all of that change has also increased something else: It’s become our number one tech headache.
A new generation of Wi-Fi hopes to solve this problem. Wi-Fi 6 brings faster speeds and broader coverage. It aims to bring more efficiency to everything we do, with more connectivity to the household devices we’re using in all of our daily activities: phones, tablets, computers, smart speakers, and televisions.
The purpose of the newest generation of Wi-Fi is to allow networks to provide resources to items that use copious amounts of data - a video game, for example - while still allowing other things on the network to function correctly. How does Wi-Fi 6 work?
Compare it to traffic on a highway. If you’re on a one-lane road, your speed is determined solely by the vehicle in front of you. If you expand the road to multiple lanes, including carpool lanes for faster vehicles, and slow lanes for older, slower ones, you’ll have more flexibility to move around as you get where you’re going.
But does it work that way? And is it more secure?
In the most basic sense, no. Wi-Fi, by default, can leave you vulnerable if you don’t have the proper protocols in place. With more devices, more accessibility, and the need to access data from anywhere, at any time, that opens up a variety of potential problems.
Any time you have an “open” network, where multiple people have access to it for various reasons - work, home, school - the risk factors increase.
Wardriving is still a thing. It’s the act of driving around areas and finding networks where it’s accessible to login, and if a password is used, it’s easy to guess. If you see various cars with people working inside throughout the day, it’s a clear sign they have penetrated the network.
Of course, that isn’t the only way people are getting in. When people are looking for holes and a way in, they try many things using whatever tools they have at their disposal. They are looking for ease, which means your job is to make access as difficult as possible.
Nothing is ever completely secure. Even when they tout the newest technology on the market with top of the line safety protocols, there will be those looking for a way in.
Security isn’t a “once and you’re done” action item. Instead, it’s a slow and steady process, always on the lookout for potential problems, consistently tweaking and upgrading to make the system better.
For IT Strategy, Cloud Conversion, or Help Desk Services reach out to us at Silver Linings Technology 360-450-4759.
