Cisco enhances WLAN security

By Bob Brewin

September 24, 2002 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - As expected, Cisco Systems Inc. has beefed up security for its wireless LAN product line to help prevent hackers from hijacking a user's identity during an authentication session.
Cisco today will start offering a free software patch that will allow users to add Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) protection to existing 802.11b or Wi Fi wireless LAN systems. PEAP helps defeat intruders by making it hard for hackers to run a "man in the middle" attack during an authentication session.
Cisco bundled the PEAP patch with an upgrade to its VPN/Security Management Solution and its Access Control Server, which provide security software, such as VPNs, to both wired and wireless networks. Microsoft Corp. included support for PEAP in its Windows XP Service Pack-1, which was released earlier this month (see story).
Cisco is also part of an industrywide group that plans to offers users tougher encryption than the current built-in WLAN Wired Equivalent Protocol by the end of the year (see story). The group includes Microsoft Corp., WLAN chip suppliers and hardware manufacturers.
PEAP does require the use of electronic certificates, which are exchanged by the user with a server during a log-in session. That limits the use of the new software to enterprises that use certificates, according to Craig Mathias, an analyst at FarPoint Group, in Ashland, Mass. Mathias said that "probably a small number of enterprises" use certificates to protect WLAN.
While Mathias viewed PEAP as a step in the right direction, he also cautioned that "there is no such thing as perfect security and there is a confusing landscape of security solutions." He said enterprises need to decide the level of protection they want to protect various classes of data and develop a security plan that best meets those requirements.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS

Leading IT Pros Weigh In on Top IT Issues

Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.

WHITE PAPER

For Best Results, Think Beyond the Box

Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!

WHITE PAPER

Accelerating the Path to Demand Intelligence with a Demand Signal Repository

Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Ponemon Study: The Business Risk of Lost Laptops
Employees can access and store enormous amounts of confidential data on your organization's laptops, leaving your company vulnerable to substantial business risk when...

5 Best Practice Tips for Managing BlackBerry, iPhone, & Windows Mobile Devices
(Source: Zenprise) Mobile devices continue to proliferate across the enterprise, driven largely by the increase in worker productivity, efficiency, and flexibility they provide....

Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops
(Source: Dell) Business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops each week in U.S. airports, yet most admit they don't take steps to protect...

Managing Laptops Outside the Office
(Source: Absolute Software) In this webinar, learn how you can reduce costs by tracking mobile computers no matter where they are located. Featuring...

2007 Gartner Magic Quadrant Report
Riverbed positioned in Leaders Quadrant of Gartner Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers. Analyzing strengths vs. cautions, Gartner helps organizations looking to acquire...

What Are 'Free' Remote Support Tools Really Costing You?
(Source: LogMeIn) In this webinar from LogMeIn, discover how "next generation" remote support tools are optimized to provide advanced capabilities like scripting, system...

Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
Are your workers going increasingly mobile? Don't wait for their calls to slam Support when they experience poor application performance on the road....

IT Strategies for Remotely Supporting a Distributed Workforce
(Source: Citrix Online) Today's workforce is a distributed one - workers across industries are telecommuting, working out of satellite offices and connecting into...

IT Best Practices: To Support or Not Support Consumer Owned Smartphones
Companies have historically standardized on a single smartphone platform. Of late, IT is facing pressure to support the increasing influx of consumer owned...

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

All White Papers | All Webcasts