McAfee produces Wi-Fi security tool
McAfee will next week launch a subscription-based software product for securing home wireless routers.
The Wireless Home Network Security software automatically sets up encryption keys on Wi-Fi routers and the PCs connected to them and then rotates the keys every three hours, according to Stu Elefant, senior product manager for wireless and new initiatives at McAfee. It will work with older Wi-Fi systems that use WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption, as well as current equipment that also supports the newer WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WPA 2 technologies, he said.
McAfee's software is designed to keep intruders - either malicious "war drivers" or neighbours who just want to freeload on a broadband Internet connection - from getting on to wireless LANs and from deciphering the packets that travel over the network. Once on a wireless LAN, intruders can steal information, intercept messages and install harmful programs.
