Better 802.11 Security
Source: PC World
If you've delayed setting up a wireless network because of security concerns, help is at hand. Around the time you read this, improved security technology for all variants of 802.11 should be available as free firmware downloads from most equipment vendors.
The new technology--known as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)--replaces the existing and largely discredited Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security algorithm that is part of the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g standards. WEP became an obstacle to widespread business adoption of Wi-Fi when security experts showed that hackers equipped with off-the-shelf tools could easily break it. The relatively robust WPA supports user authentication by a dedicated server on a corporate network, while being versatile enough to work well on simple home and small-office networks.
