Security concerns hamper corporate Wi-Fi

Firms that are unconvinced about the wisdom of installing an 802.11b network may find their employees decide to rectify the situation with a trip to Dixons

The booming enthusiasm for wireless connectivity among office workers is proving a headache for IT managers.

At a debate at the NetEvents European Press Summit last week, industry figures warned that firms who are reluctant to install a corporate Wi-Fi network because of concerns over security and scalability may find that staff take the matter into their own hands.

"The main security problem with wireless comes when an employee buys an access point at Dixons and plugs it into an insecure wired network," said Brice Clark, director of worldwide strategic planning for HP ProCurve. "The point that many people miss is that the first stage in creating a secure wireless network is to create a secure wired one."

Insecurity is Wi-Fi's vulnerable underbelly. While a wireless LAN can give workers high-speed connectivity away from their desk, it can also create a weak point in the corporate IT system. This is because the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm, Wi-Fi's security protection, isn't particularly robust -- not forgetting that, until recently, Wi-Fi kit would be often shipped with WEP turned off.

According to Richard Webb, European network and WLAN analyst at Infonetics Research, security is still the No. 1 factor deterring firms from embracing wireless. "The industry has work to do to address these concerns," said Webb, who believes that media perceptions about wireless insecurity have "set the market back a bit".