Wireless LANs Reach the Last Hurdle
Source: Network Computing
When reports began circulating in mid-2001 that researchers had found the IEEE 802.11 WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) security system was vulnerable to attack, the news cooled an extremely hot wireless LAN market. Wireless technology's performance, interoperability and manageability continued to improve, while security loomed as an insurmountable hurdle.
Indeed, when Network Computing led a four-city "Solutions Summit" on WLANs (wireless LANs) late last year, nearly 80 percent of the 300 attendees identified security as the greatest obstacle to deployment of wireless LANs in their organizations. Our recent WLAN security reader poll confirmed these impressions. Fewer than one-third of the respondents said they would be willing to accept a little less security in exchange for the benefits of wireless network access.
