"Wireless networks are particularly vulnerable to security breaches and attacks because the signal is wide open," explained Chuck Conley, vice president of marketing for Newbury Networks. The executive for the wireless security provider noted that, "for the first time in computing history, you don't know where your device or your user is. And because you don't know where that user is, you also sometimes don't know who that user is."
Conley pointed out that because wireless networks typically cover a 300-foot radius, signals can bleed out through brick and glass to the hallway, the sidewalk, and maybe even the parking lot across the street. He cautioned, "anyone who might not be in line of sight can hop onto that signal with relative ease, hack into the network from behind the scenes, and create a major security breach of the network and the data behind it."
Beware the war driver
With the built-in Centrino chip, when a user turns on a new-model laptop it automatically creates a wireless LAN, instantly emitting an 802.11 signal. If it's running Microsoft XP, the laptop will automatically seek a network connection. With the growing ubiquity of wireless network devices used by mobile employees, Conley recommended educating wireless users in some fundamental practices to safeguard their transmissions from a growing band of high-tech thieves known as war drivers.
Using a laptop and a modified wireless access card, anyone with the technical knowledge of an average university student can trawl through the computer records of a company that hasn't properly secured its wireless network. With more companies opting for wireless networks in place of expensive cabling throughout their offices, the opportunity for taking advantage of this unwitting "open door" policy is growing.
A 2002 survey conducted by business advisers at KPMG International found that of those companies that had fully implemented a wireless LAN, some 38 percent had failed to use any type of encryption technology to protect the information flowing over their networks. Such lax security left them vulnerable to serious breaches.
