SECURE ON THE OUTSIDE?

How do you protect data when its on the outside of a property?

Cliff Stammers, expert Crestron programmer, founder of Clever Rooms and a EI regular looks at an often overlooked aspect of exterior automation and AV, network security.

One thing that’s well worth giving a good deal of consideration to, (if you’re setting up an outside system), is your data security. We are all well aware of how AV and IT are virtually synonymous these days, and so if you’re putting together any kind of design, then you’ll undoubtedly be faced with the prospect of plumbing the internet into it at some point. Even speakers now have IP Addresses and, therefore, will need to sit on your Local Area Network (LAN). So, if you’re putting them outside, you’ll need to extend your IT network in order to accommodate them. Not to mention, of course, all the other component kit that will need to be installed to make any external system a reality.

Naturally, you’ll want to be protecting your data network from any kind of hacker that may be lurking somewhere out there in cyberspace. It’s worth remembering that these shifty little characters are not always hiding behind the web and raiding your data virtually. Bear in mind that opportunist hackers might be living along the road from you, or perhaps right next door. In physical, human form. So, even if it’s only to stop your neighbour from stealing your internet, you’re going to want to think about how much of your wireless network you hang out in your garden for open consumption by anyone savvy enough to want to hijack it.

Put it this way, you wouldn’t lock your back door and leave the key hanging on a hook outside the garden gate. So don’t do the technological equivalent of this by having your data network exposed and vulnerable to attack.

So, why is this any different from a standard situation where your LAN is indoors? Well, simply because you’ll have to have your Wi-Fi extended to an external space, and for that you’ll most probably deploy one or two – or more – wireless network extenders. You may even install a Mesh Network to do this. But the considerations will all be the same. Make sure you secure it properly so that these new, high-strength gateways on to your internal LAN are not weak spots in your overall system. I know this is tantamount to stating the obvious, but in a data network that is wholly inside a building, there won’t be as many opportunities for a local hacker to pick up a solid signal, as there will be when you’ve got wireless access points on the outside of your house.

So, lock them down. Keep your data encrypted wherever possible. Use managed switches and routers so you have more control over how access to your network is granted. Reformat your administrative credentials every now and then. Change your passwords three or four times a year as well. And if you’re like me in that you hate living your electronic life bound and shackled to a series of increasingly obscure passcodes and PINs, get yourself a copy of KeePass – it’s free! – and store all of your information in there. Other password storage software is available. Hopefully you’ll not be subjected to any unfortunate incursions, but by considering these handful of simple ideas you might be spared that ignominy.

Finally, I’d suggest – and this is a general rule of course – that wherever electronic equipment you put outside you had better make sure it’s waterproofed to an industrial standard. Because, at the time of writing, it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop raining any time soon!