Week 7 assignments

Posted by SK

I have received a spoofed SMS from fraudsters. Am a user of Barclays bank and usually, the bank updates me about my bank account activity through sending texts to my mobile number which is associated with the account. Fraudsters sent a resembling message which in my phone appeared to come from the usual legitimate bank service. The message was to inform me that my bank account was at risk and that someone had tried to withdraw money. The message had a link which I was required to click on and change my account credentials to secure it. On tapping on the link, it took to a web page that was identical to the legitimate Barclays bank webpage. The webpage required me to enter my card details and private key to my account so that that I could access my account and thereby secure it from the ‘hackers’. The bank usually warns that you should not disclose your accounts private credentials when requested by suspicious sources.

            I declined to give my details and decided to look up the legitimate contacts of the bank and gave them an inquiry call. The bank operators on the line told me that they were not aware of any attempt to withdraw money from my account and said my account was safe. Through this experienced, I was more aware and vigilant of spoof SMS scams.

Posted by RG

Chain letters, phishing emails or fraudulent messages via emails are sent to people all the time with different intents. These messages claim to be from a legitimate source – well known Software Company, online payment service, bank or any other reputable institution.

 

I’ve received chain mails or fraudulent messages quite a few times while going through my inbox or the spam folder of my email. There are a couple of them that particularly stand out. One of them is a mail from Wal-Mart saying that they would be shipping out a $500 coupon to everyone who fills up a particular survey revealing personal and contact information details in the process of reviewing their products listed. This email was sent to a lot of my friends as well. Some of them had also given into it and in the process of filling up the survey, they had divulged their personal information on many different websites that it was leading them to until they finally realized that it was actually a hoax. Their inbox was being flooded with even more spam mails after this incident.

 

In order to keep away from such chain mails/fraudulent messages, its important to ignore mails that are sent to a bulk number of recipients. I installed effective Internet security on my laptops that remove all forms of malware and keeps me protected from phishing attacks. While dealing with emails seeking charity donations, signing petitions for a cause etc., its always recommended to do some research and make sure that the institution or the person asking for it is authentic/real.

Posted by VSYK

Earlier, most of the wireless LANs were operation with fat Access Points as they handled wide variety of tasks pertaining to software, each consisting of different IP addresses wired into ethernet switches. Startups such as Aruba Wireless Networks and Airespace introduced WLAN switch that shifted most of the access point's functions. The reasons for this are centralized management, client handoffs and efficient security administration.

Fat APs are typically used in small wireless network construction while thin APs are used in medium to large scale wireless network construction. A fat AP network cannot be used for wireless roaming as roaming between two fat APs requires reauthentication, re-acquires the IP address and involves a network disruption. On the other hand a thin AP network switches the network automatically when the user moves from one thin AP to another and doesn't require any reauthentication, re-acquiring the IPaddress and is always connected online.

Automatic Load Balancing is another factor as fat AP cannot perform load balancing to allocate users to another fat AP with lighter loads resulting in network failures. A thin AP on the other hand automatically allocates the users to other thin APs with lighter load according to the load balancing algorithm thus minimizing the failure rate of the AP.

To deploy a thin AP, multiple APs that are controlled by a controller made with a strong hardware is required and the controller should be able to perform switching and routing functions. The fat AP networks have a single authentication mode with pre-shared keys which cannot guarantee network access security. Thin AP comes with illegal AP detection and processing mechanisms along with wireless intrusion detection mechanisms.