Is wireless security pointless?
What with country singer Lee Greenwood's recorded rendition of patriot songs like "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" and "God Bless America" playing over the sound system at 8:30 a.m. in the Commerce Department auditorium in Washington, D.C., one could have been excused for thinking the July 20 conference: "Pharmers and Spimmers, Hackers and Bluejackers: Combating Wireless Security Threats" was taking place during a national emergency. Far from it.
True, speakers decried the lack of concern in corporate America over security threats to wireless local area networks (WLANs) and enterprise systems. On the other hand, the threat level doesn't seem to be all that high yet. Mark Henderson, senior analyst, U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which operates out of the Department of Homeland Security, said U.S. CERT had not been receiving much in the way of reports on wireless network attacks. "That may be because companies are not reporting them to us, although they are mandated to do that," he added.
