Mobile & Wireless World: Compliance regs put bite in wireless security

Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA mean a new focus on wireless network security

By David Ramel

June 15, 2005 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Wireless security may not have been seen as important to C-level executives in the past, but compliance regulations with stiff penalties, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, will change that, John Stehman, an analyst at Robert Frances Group Inc., told attendees today at Computerworld's Mobile & Wireless World Conference.
He said security is an important part of the growing, inexorable wireless movement that all companies will have to address -- and he warned that they had better start now to implement the necessary infrastructure and plan for future changes.
C-level executives used to be more likely to delegate wireless security concerns to others, Stehman said, noting that in a survey he conducted, 35% of the executives questioned were unaware that their companies use wireless networks. "The C-level executives did not know," he said.
While executives may have preferred to delegate wireless security responsibilities to other departments, compliance regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act will force them to pay closer attention to the issue to avoid legal penalties.
Stehman listed several best practices executives can follow to avoid compliance problems. Among them are making sure of the following:

All user devices are tested and certified by the IT staff prior to being connected to the wireless network.

Help desk support personnel receive hands-on training for all of the wireless devices certified by IT staffers.

Wireless users are briefed on how to comply with enterprise security requirements.

All wireless-enabled applications pass security and performance requirements prior to being deployed.

All wireless applications have a designated owner.

Stehman also dismissed often publicized security concerns about network hackers or wireless "sniffers" outside a company that are trying to steal confidential information.
He asked how many in the audience had been hack-attack victims; no hands were raised. Stehman noted that he has 100 clients and none of them has been hacked. Where are the victims? he asked. "I can't find them."
The problem of wireless network sniffing has been hyped, he said, because a sniffer would have to capture 60,000 bytes of data to get meaningful information, and many networks don't transfer that much data in a week. "If you don't notice a guy sitting in your parking lot for a week, you have a lot bigger problems," he said.
Putting in the right infrastructure and planning for future changes are also crucial best practices to keep in mind, Stehman said. "If you're treating this as a one-off technology, you're dead wrong," he said. "It will be big business infive years. ... You've got to use it." Failing to include it in a corporate infrastructure now, he said, is "going to cost you a lot of money."
Stehman emphasized the importance of training IT staff now on the latest wireless technology -- and maintaining that training. "It's only to get more complex; it's not going to get any simpler," he said.

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