With the advent of wireless networks and other technologies, we are increasingly exposing our data to the risk of theft and interception by third parties with nothing more than a notebook computer and some freely available tools, which can be acquired online.

Whilst most home users and many organizations are now aware of the security implications of having unsecured private networks, the truth is that not many are aware of the limitations and the vulnerabilities that exist with wireless communications.

Wireless networks using older encryption technology are easily attackable using brute force attack.  By snooping encrypted packets for long enough, potential intruders can extrapolate the encryption key and gain access to the network.

This means the whole network becomes compromised and as a direct result of poor encryption standards, e-mails and other communications can be intercepted with ease.

To secure wireless networks, it is recommended to ensure that more popular and recognized encryption protocols are used and that key strength is strong enough to mitigate the risks of brute force attack.

However, many networks can still be breached so it is important to ensure that networks offer multiple layers of protection.  One way of protecting data, file transfer and VOIP communications that occur on a wireless network is to ensure that third party encryption software is used that effectively ‘double-encrypts’ any sensitive data being broadcasted wirelessly.

This ensures not only that the information is secure, but also reduces the value of data which is sniffed off the air, as it is essentially worthless due to the fact it is encrypted.

Recently, an industrial company in Texas has suffered the consequences of lax security policies when hackers managed to steal over $1.2 million dollars in a mere 30 minutes.

Jugal Malani, owner of the Sugar Land Company located in the USA recently received the blunt end of the stick, when his network was exposed and his credit lines were exposed.

The attacks took a mere 30 minutes to perpetrate and those responsible have still not been located.

In response to the attack, Mr Malani expressed complete bewilderment stating he never believed his firm was vulnerable, and subsequently he has upgraded his security.

Constantly, smaller and smaller corporations are facing the brunt of experienced hacker’s intent on breaching network security.

These days, it is no longer a case of having to be a multi-national corporation to be vulnerable, but any organization risks being a target if appropriate security measures are not enforced.

This is an example of a worst-case scenario, but one that is preventable with modern security policies.

Utilizing things such as encryption on files and sensitive calls ensures that no sensitive information is ever available for drive-by hackers.  Drive-by hackers, or hackers that simply roam the internet looking for weak targets are now responsible for a growing majority of attacks on business networks, and they are often escaping without charge due to lax network security that means there is not sufficient evidence left behind to apprehend them.

Security needs a huge paradigm shift from that of a single point of defence into a multi-layered model, which means that should attackers breach one layer of security, they still have many more until they can gain access to sensitive material, and each attempt will leave more and more incriminating evidence.

Next time you are trying to save $2000 on security, just think about this story because it could just end costing two million.