Cybercriminals can leverage various mechanisms to attack a network, including web applications, supply chain interdependencies, and AI-generated tools that make phishing easier. To secure their networks, businesses must implement things like PoE technology to strengthen systems without increasing IT workload.
A LoRaWAN gateway, such as the LCG-300-NR-US, provides robust security and privacy features to protect sensitive data.
What is LoRaWAN?
LoRaWAN® is short for Long Range Wide Area Network. Operating in unlicensed frequency bands, this protocol allows for long-range data transmission of up to 15 km in rural areas, as well as in urban and suburban regions. Known for its low power consumption, LoRaWAN can connect numerous devices to a single network, including network and application servers, gateways, and end devices, enabling a flexible and scalable network to support a diverse array of Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
A Media Access Control (MAC) layer protocol, LoRaWAN is built on top of the LoRa radio modulation technique, which encodes information on radio waves using a special chirped, multi-symbol structure. It was designed to wirelessly connect battery-operated devices to the internet in regional, national, and global networks. LoRaWAN provides key IoT requirements, including end-to-end security, bidirectional communication, mobility, and localization services.
Security Measures Implemented by LoRaWAN
To ensure confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity of transmitted data, LoRaWAN implements several security measures to meet the needs of IoT networks.
Tunneling
Tunneling is a method of encrypting and encapsulating network data within another data layer to create a secure, private channel for communication. By making it more difficult to intercept and decipher transmitted data, tunneling protects sensitive information even when it is transmitted across less secure networks, such as the open internet.
The process of tunneling involves six key actions:
- Encryption: Packets of data are modified to be incomprehensible to unauthorized users.
- Encapsulation: Encrypted data packets are wrapped inside another packet before transmission, creating a tunnel that conceals the original data’s content and destination from outside viewers.
- Header addition: A header specifies one end of a secure tunnel as the origination point and the other end as the destination..
- Transmission: The encapsulated packet is transmitted through the tunnel, across the public network without being noticed.
- Decapsulation: Upon reaching the destination, the header is removed from the packet, and the original encrypted data packet is extracted.
- Decryption: Extracted data is decrypted back into its original content and delivered to the intended destination IP address.
Tunneling allows connected systems to communicate safely and securely over public networks.
Masking
Masking is a method of hiding or obscuring sensitive data while preserving its format. The goal is to create a non-production environment that is functionally similar to the production environment, but doesn’t expose confidential information.
Masking techniques include:
- Encryption: Making sensitive data unreadable without a decryption key.
- Substitution: Replacing sensitive data with realistic but fake values.
- Number Variance: Adding or subtracting a fixed or random number from numerical values.
- Shuffling: Reordering values within a column.
- Date Shifting: Adding or subtracting a random or consistent time interval from dates.
- Redaction: Completely removing or hiding sensitive information.
- Tokenization: Using non-sensitive placeholders (tokens) that an authorized system can reverse to replace sensitive data.
- Nulling Out: Using null or empty values in place of sensitive information.
- Lookup Substitution: Changing real data by replacing pieces of it with alternative values from a predefined list.
- Subnet Mask: A specific type of masking, also called a net mask, used to distinguish between the network and host portions of an IP address.
Masking prevents unauthorized access to confidential information while still allowing it to be used or analyzed by the recipient.
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A VPN works by creating an encrypted tunnel between your device and a remote server. It hides your IP address and encrypts your internet traffic to protect data from prying eyes. A VPN also allows you to bypass geo-restrictions and website blocks.
VPN tunneling provides security, privacy, remote access, and network segmentation.
Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)
An SD-WAN is an application that simplifies network management, improves performance, and enhances security. To secure data, SD-WANs:
- Provide end-to-end visibility for more secure operations.
- Enforce discrete security policies.
- Support zero-trust architectures that require authentication whenever a resource is requested.
- Support next-generation firewalls and in-transit encryption.
If criminals manage to intercept data, SD-WAN encryption renders it unusable.
Secure Your Network with the LCG-300-NR-US Industrial LoRaWAN Gateway
A gateway is a device that controls the flow of data between two networks. It acts as a bridge that allows traffic to move between networks using different communication methods.
Planet Technology’s cellular wireless gateway features built-in IPSec VPN functionality. The LCG-300-NR is an industrial-grade 5G NR and LoRaWAN Gateway capable of providing ultra-fast broadband access with a 5G cellular network. Fully compatible with the LoRaWAN protocol, this wireless gateway features sensors that can transmit data over extremely long ranges while maintaining low power consumption and supporting up to 300 end nodes.
Notable features of the LCG-300-NR include:
- Five 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 Ethernet ports.
- Three LAN ports.
- One LAN/WAN port.
- One WAN port.
- Five dBi external antennas with SMA connectors for 5G NR.
- Two dBi external antennas with SMA connectors for LoRa.
- One SIM card slot with a mini SIM card tray.
- DI and DO interfaces.
- DIN rail, wall, and desktop mounting.
- Firewall security that blocks DoS/DDoS attacks, including SSL (HTTPS) Inspection and Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI).
- Content filtering including MAC filtering, IP filtering, and Web filtering.
- Bandwidth management, including Outbound load balancing, Failover for dual-WAN, and quality of service (QoS).
- SSHv2, TLSv1.2, and SNMPv3 secure management interfaces.
- Advanced VPN functions.
- DES, 3DES, AES, or AES-128, AES-192, AES-256 encryption.
Housed in a compact yet rugged IP30 metal case, the LCG-300-NR offers the ideal high-availability VPN security router solution for industrial environments. It has an operating temperature range of -40 °C to 75 °C and a storage temperature range of -40 °C to 85 °C. Built-in SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) firewall and DoS/DDoS attack mitigation provide high efficiency and extensive protection for networks, ensuring that data moves effectively and safely.
