(upbeat music)
- [Robert] Cybersecurity has become one of the key concerns
for many in our virtual world,
especially regarding cybersecurity
for personal and privacy rights.
There's technically no completely safe wireless.
There are so many ways to hack a WiFi network
that needs to be a main concern with data transmission.
The best security currently is AES
or advanced encryption service encryption
with the latest wireless protocols.
You're more likely to get hacked in a public WiFi
than private, but all wireless traffic should be suspect.
And this is due to spoofing gateways
by using man-in-the-middle attacks,
wireless sniffers, and more.
Wireless antenna dampeners can help keep from getting hacked
outside your office from war drivers.
Even when we're connected to the internet,
many users commonly experience unstable
or slow connection speeds with their wireless connections.
This is especially severe in areas
where multiple access points are installed.
Signal interference is one of the reasons
for the unstable connections.
Interference can be the result of equipment
coupled with different electromagnetic waves.
Wireless dead spots are also an issue
due to many thick walls and multiple stories.
These can all be mitigated by using heat maps
and centralized wireless.
Heat maps tell you where there's going to be dead spots
or too many WiFi signals that can cause crosstalk.
Many higher-end products like Cisco and Aruba
support this type of technology.
There are also handheld tools to detect signal interference
that are on the market.
One of the greatest challenges
in managing a wireless connection
is ensuring that every user within that environment
is content with their connection speed and usability.
Some users will download huge files,
such as movies and podcasts,
while others barely use wireless at all.
And this can be mitigated by setting up quality of service
so no user can utilize over a certain amount of bandwidth.
Additional access points running on separate channels
in the high use areas can also help.
Check that each wireless access point
has the correct channel that they're going to broadcast on
so they don't overlap with other nearby access points.
Channel overlap can happen
when you're not truly on an individual channel.
Many of the channels overlap with other channels.
There's more channels with five gigahertz
than there are with 2.4 gigahertz,
but check with your vendor to make sure
that you're not using channels
that may overlap with others in the area.
There are many different WiFi standards such as 802.11,
A, B, G, N, AC, and AX.
What needs to be done is to find out what users' devices
are capable with your wireless access points.
If you no longer need N or below,
then you can get better speeds
by eliminating those protocols with your SSID options.
The more protocols going through your antennas,
the slower things will be,
especially at the 2.4 gigahertz range.
Try to stay only with five gigahertz when possible.
Otherwise, ask management to upgrade your equipment.
Many wireless problems can appear in your network,
but all of them are resolvable
by utilizing troubleshooting tools
and the latest wireless equipment.
There's many different devices
that can cause WiFi interference
that you should be aware of,
many appliances such as microwaves and fluorescent lights.
There are power cables and adapters.
They all emit signals that can interfere with WiFi.
The best thing to do would be to switch
to five gigahertz WiFi instead of 2.4
to get better signal strength.
Wireless devices, including wireless headsets, keyboards,
mice, cordless phones, baby monitors,
and other wireless devices
can also cause problems with WiFi.
Gadgets commonly used such as video game controllers,
wireless security cameras, radio motion detectors,
and others can also have issues.
Five gigahertz, once again,
can help with these types of interferences.
If you live in an area with dense populations,
such as apartment buildings,
then the growth in WiFi network density,
especially in populated areas,
has increased among wireless networks
and that can cause all types of interference.
Strong WiFi signals in close proximity to each other
can reduce performance of both networks
that are wired as well as wireless
because of shared network connections.
And new public WiFi networks
are adding to this type of interference.
Dampener antennas can keep those signals
from entering your space and can be placed safely
on the outside of a building or inside pointing out.
Thick materials such as concrete, metal, and stone
are not good for wireless signals.
Reflective surfaces such as mirrors and foil
found in modern housing insulation
can cause erratic WiFi signals.
Adding more wireless access points
can usually fix the problem.
Many people don't know this,
but WiFi works on line of sight
so if a computer's wireless network interface card
and wireless access point can't see each other,
then they have to rely on bouncing signals off floors,
walls, and ceilings to get to each other.
The more hops and the duller the material,
the more the wireless will slow down.
Placing devices in areas that have better line of sight
are the way to go.
Signal interference is a big part
of troubleshooting your network,
and this will become increasingly difficult
as more WiFi-capable devices enter your network.
(upbeat music)