Wireless networking security within the enterprise is turning out to be a headache for IT managers, and a rich lode of product development within the vendor community.
Wavelink, which sells mobile infrastructure software for the enterprise, is just out with two solutions that purport to improve the security of wireless local area networks (WLANs) and handheld devices. They provide for Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) key rotation and the detection of rogue access points anywhere on an organization's wireless LAN.
The security solutions are cross-vendor and support legacy devices from leading mobile equipment providers, including Cisco, Symbol, Fujitsu, Intermec, PSC, and others. The solutions enable thousands of organizations already using wireless LANs and those considering new deployments to dramatically enhance security in two of the most vulnerable areas.
"Wavelink's cross-platform WEP key rotation enhancement is well suited for organizations looking for secure connections between their Cisco Aironet wireless LAN infrastructure and legacy handheld devices such as those found in retail and on the factory floor," said Bill Rossi of Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit.
"When paired with Cisco's IEEE 802.1x/EAP standards-based security solution, customers gain a seamless, interoperable and scalable solution that ultimately lets the right people access the right data appropriately and securely from any device anywhere on their network," he says.
Wavelink's WEP key rotation solution, which is already in trials at a major financial services firm and a national retailer, automates the rotation of WEP keys before a hacker has time to collect sufficient data to break the encryption. This creates an immediate and cost-effective technique to reduce the known vulnerabilities of WEP in the IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b standards.
The solution works with or without an authentication server, and in single- and multi-vendor environments. While this feature offers enterprises an immediate wireless security solution, Wavelink continues to support all emerging wireless security standards and endorses the work of wireless security standards bodies.
Rogue access points, unauthorized access points that operate undetected on a wireless LAN, represent a particularly dangerous security breach because of their ability to provide direct, unauthorized access to information on an organization's wired network.
Wavelink's rogue access point detection offering does not require special equipment or a dedicated effort from an IT administrator. The solution uses existing wireless LAN resources to constantly monitor airwaves for unauthorized users while simultaneously surveying wired network traffic for activity from unauthorized wireless devices. The solution also enables the deactivation of rogue access points from a central management console.
"Although still growing, the wireless LAN market has been struggling to overcome a setback since the WEP key problem surfaced. Wavelink's offering provides a security framework for data privacy that supports both legacy devices and new equipment without the requirement of an authentication server," says Michael Disabato, wireless technology and network security expert for the Burton Group.
