In that column I guessed that it might be a wireless network that was breeched that allowed the thief to steal the information. Since then we have learned that an application was installed on the servers at each Hannaford location that was able to read the data as it was transmitted across their network and then send the data to another country.
It still remains to be seen how the thieves got the software installed at so many locations. Some believe it may have been an inside job, others find it unfeasible that a single person would have driven to every Hannaford location to install the software. Who knows?
In my last column I promised a quick rundown on how to secure your home wireless network. There is much you can do to help secure a wireless network. You can stop broadcasting your SSID (name of your wireless network), you can filter MAC Addresses (a unique ID assigned to every network device during manufacture) and you can use encryption.
Well, the first two options don’t work very well at all.
Even if you don’t broadcast your SSID, someone who knows the SSID can still connect, and finding the names of non-broadcasting wireless networks is actually quite simple (but I won’t tell you how).
It’s also possible to “spoof” a MAC Address, so by looking at traffic on a wireless network you can see the MAC address of computers using the network, then just tell your network adapter to use that as its MAC Address and, poof, they’re in. It’s a little more complicated than that, but not much.
The best step you can take to secure your network is to use wireless encryption. There are three basic levels of encryption: WEP, WPA, and WPA2.
WEP is the weakest and is easily broken (again, I’m not telling). You should only use this if it is your only option, and even then you might consider getting a new wireless router.
WPA provides excellent encryption that is very difficult to break. WPA2 is an enhancement to WPA, but there is a decent chance that at least one of the computers you are trying to connect to your wireless network doesn’t support WPA2.
With that in mind, how do you set up your wireless network to use WPA?
Well, each one is different, meaning I can’t give specific instructions, so get out your manual or your tech-savvy friend.
You’ll need to connect directly to the router; you shouldn’t attempt this while connected wirelessly. You need to access the router’s administration. On most routers you do this by opening a web browser and typing 192.168.1.1 in the address bar.
After logging in, hunt around until you find the wireless security section. Choose WPA security. You might have two choices for encryption algorithms: TKIP or AES.
They are both excellent, but AES is little better. You then need to choose your shared key. This can be between eight and 63 characters in length, the longer the better. Try using a short sentence. (If you haven’t done so already change the admin password so it is not the factory default, and turn off remote administration.) Save your settings and exit.
The next time you try to connect to the wireless network you will be prompted to type in the shared key.
If you get stuck and “break” your network, you can always reset the router back to the factory defaults. There is usually a little button you can press with a pen tip on the back of the routers. Good luck.