Skip the navigation

Wi-Fi Plays Defense

The new 802.11i wireless LAN security standard is a step forward, but Wi-Fi LANs still aren't impervious to attacks.

By Joanie Wexler
August 23, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Unbounded by the physical constraints of cabling and walls, wireless LANs have proved tricky to secure. Now that the long-awaited 802.11i standard for enhanced WLAN security has been ratified, can IT assume that WLANs have grown as secure as their cabled counterparts?
Hardly.
It will take time for vendors to migrate their products to 802.11i, approved in June, and for IT organizations to adopt them. And the Wi-Fi Alliance won't even start interoperability testing of 802.11i products until next month.
More important, 802.11i represents just the finishing touch to a series of steps in wireless security standards development. Much of it has already been available for about 18 months in an 802.11i subset called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). And while standards-based security technology plays a big part in protecting enterprises, the issues reach beyond a signed set of technical specs.
For example, there's a broad installed base of specialized client devices, such as bar code scanners, that run the MS-DOS operating system. They are not upgradable, even to earlier versions of authentication and encryption, let alone to 802.11i, which requires Advanced Encryption Standard protection. AES will require hardware upgrades - even for far newer products. As enterprises expand their WLANs, these legacy devices might well become the weakest link in the wireless security chain.
And some administrators lack confidence in their ability to properly implement the various pieces of WLAN security, particularly since new attacks regularly make headlines.
Asserts Pete Davis, assistant network engineer for the Spring Independent School District in Spring, Texas, "It requires much time and effort to determine what's real and what's market-speak. There's a lot of FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] being spread about wireless security."
Technology Headway
The formal 802.11i standard, which includes WPA, does bolster the confidentiality and integrity of WLANs. Tom Hagin, vice president of the wireless business practice at integrator NetXperts Inc. in San Ramon, Calif., says the standard has taken Wi-Fi security "from prepuberty to just past puberty."
"In the past six months, we haven't had anyone say they weren't going to install wireless because it isn't secure. Prior to that, we did," he says.
WPA, available in many WLAN network interface cards (NIC) and access points (AP), was developed after university researchers demonstrated the ease with which hackers could break static encryption keys in the 802.11's Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) mechanism in 2001. WPA requires products to rotate encryption keys on a per-packet basis so they are much harder to crack. WPA also uses the industry-standard 802.1x framework for strong



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Security White Papers
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
Identity Governance: The Business Imperatives
This white paper describes the business challenges and opportunities that are driving interest in Identity Governance while discussing considerations your organization should make...
All Security White Papers
Security Webcasts
Live Webcast
Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game
When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...
Introduction to VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5
Traditional disaster recovery solutions are often too expensive, complex and unreliable to meet business requirements. As a result, IT departments are hesitant to...
The Top Ten Secrets to Avoiding SAN Performance Problems
Maintaining peak performance while simultaneously addressing the root cause of SAN errors is challenging. Learn the most common SAN problems and explore new...
Deduplication Without Compromise
Go inside Quantum's scalable, high-performance, multi-protocol new DXi deduplication appliances, designed to make backup much more effective. Discover how the new future-proof DXi6700...
Director of Disk Products Discusses DXi6700
Discover how the new DXi 6700 series of deduplication appliances provide investment protection and a future-proof feature set, all while delivering fast, scalable,...
Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game
When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...
All Security Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs