An Always On But Idle Connection
Can Also Be the Devil's Workshop
Idle hands are the devil’s workshop;
idle lips are his mouthpiece.
Proverbs 16:27-28
On December 12, 2023, Reuters had reported that "Ukraine's biggest mobile network operator" and fallen victim to "the largest cyberattack since Russia launched its war on the country in February 2022." That same day, CNN also reported that the attack not only impacted mobile phone users in Ukraine, but also disrupted Ukraine's air defense systems. January 4, 2024, Reuters further reported that the attack had done far greater damage than was first reported.
The attack wiped "almost everything", including thousands of virtual servers and PCs, he said, describing it as probably the first example of a destructive cyberattack that completely destroyed the core of a telecoms operator.
The second report by Reuters quoted Illia Vitiuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine's (SBU) cybersecurity department, who said that "This attack is a big message, a big warning, not only to Ukraine, but for the whole Western world to understand that no one is actually untouchable." The second Reuters report also noted that "Russian hackers were inside Ukrainian telecoms giant Kyivstar's system from at least May last year."
That a massive network could have been compromised long before any overt attack is not really new news to those who follow the day to day reports of cyber security incidents. It's just another day and another debacle. Unless, of course, you cannot learn that your spouse has been in a fatal auto accident because your mobile network has been knocked out.
This attack illustrates well that any system, no matter how seemingly secure, can be compromised by threat actors. This certainly pertains to our network providers, as well. "What do I do if my network provider is hacked?" may be a common thought here.
One possible measure any user can take to lessen one's attack surface is to disconnect from your network when the network is not in use. Many small business computer users do not always need to be connected. For this group, much computing time is consumed with writing documents in Word and crunching the numbers with Excel. These tasks do not always require an always on network connection to be completed. This is especially true if the goal is to print these documents on a hard wired printer. If a user is not connected to the network when an attack is launched, the user might be spared from some of the fallout. Furthermore, it makes no sense at all to leave a computer connected to a network when the computer user is out buying groceries, for instance.
Fortunately, Windows gives users an easy method for disabling and again enabling a network connection by either plain turning off the wireless connection, or temporarily disabling the network adaptor itself when using Ethernet. I am pretty much always using wireless these days. It's easy peasy, me mates, to turn a wireless connection on and off, or disable and enable in technospeak. Ethernet isn't really any more difficult, but does require the use of Control Panel. So a few more clicks are needed.
| Disconnecting from
a wireless connection starts by clicking on the wireless icon
located in the Notification Area next to the clock in the lower right portion of the Windows screen. Several controls will appear. Click your wireless network name. |
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When you click the wireless network, the first thing you see is the toggle switch to turn that network on and off. Move the blue slider button to the left to turn off that wireless connection. |
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| The icon in the Notification
is now
turns from a fan looking object to a globe looking object.
To turn the wireless back on, click the globe object. Move the blue slider control back to the right. The list of available networks appears. Click your named network. Click the blue Connect button. |
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| For wired Ethernet connections
things are a bit more complicated. First of all, one must bring up that trusty old relic from older versions of Windows, Control Panel. To activate Control Panel, click into the Search Box on the Windows Taskbar. Type Control. The Control Panel icon will appear. Click the Control Panel icon. |
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| When Control Panel first opens,
click the View by drop box. Select Large Icons. A very expansive list of applications and their icons appears. Click Network and Sharing Center. |
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| When Network and Sharing Center opens, click Change adaptor settings. | |
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| On the Network Connections
screen, click
your Ethernet connection. A toolbar then will then fill the top of the screen. Click Disable this network device. |
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| To make your Ethernet
connection active again, simply repeat these steps. The Disable this network device toolbar now reads Enable this network device. |
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I do turn my wireless connection on and off several times a day with no impact on network performance whatsoever. If anything, refreshing your connection may well improve network performance. But that's not why I do this. I disable my wireless connection when the network is not use because an idle network could be a hacker’s workshop. Why make it any easier for these miscreants?
Turn it on, turn it on,
turn it on again
— Turn It On Again,
Genesis
Gerald Reiff
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