The evolution of wireless technology has brought tremendous physical flexibility to business owners. No longer tethered to restrictive Ethernet cable runs, we are now free to visit with patients, travel through production plants, or participate in numerous other activities with a network connected device in our hands. However, the initial wireless security protocols that were introduced with the widespread implementation of wireless communications are extremely weak, leaving networks to the mercy of any bad guy with a laptop and antenna.
The difficulty of securing a wireless network arises from the inability to physically protect the medium that is used to transmit data: radio frequency waves. In the good old days, it was easy. If a company was paranoid enough and wanted to protect access to internal network ports, they could build a twenty foot wall and a moat filled with snakes and alligators to thwart access from outsiders. But how do you protect the air? As it turns out, the answer is found in mathematics and the ancient science of cryptography.
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was the first attempt to protect wireless communication with encryption. It was meant to do exactly what the name suggests: make data in the ether as secure as data on a wire. Unfortunately, some poor assumptions and worse design decisions have rendered WEP a mere nuisance for attackers.
But fear not. The good guys equipped with calculators and pocket protectors have fought back to deliver secure wireless solutions. Heck, they’ve even found a way – through the use of a firewall and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) – to adequately protect some existing WEP wireless networks. However, it can’t be done by flipping a switch. And it will take some new equipment and a well developed design for safe data and wireless technology to coexist.
HLP Networks believes that wireless communication is the future of computing. We believe the flexibility gained by implementing a wireless data network is well worth the additional upfront effort. We can provide a secure wireless infrastructure for you employees or isolated guest access for clients and vendors.
Allow us to help accomplish what was once impossible: sending data through the air worry free.