Panda Software has published the “Security in Wireless Networks”, report by PandaLabs, highlighting the security deficiencies in WEP, the most widely used protocol in Wi-Fi environments, as well as underlining the relative reliability of other current systems, such as WPA or WPA-PSK. In fact, almost 60 percent of networks, according to the survey, had no security system at all.
You've got a wireless network. You can use your computer anywhere in your house. But your neighbors may be benefiting too. If your network is not secured, they can "borrow" Internet access from you--no need to pay for their own. No harm, no foul, right?
Not exactly, say Symantec and the Internet Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
Last year a group of companies attempted an end run around the IEEE committee developing the next-generation wireless LAN standard, 802.11n. Its goal was to obtain a time-to-market advantage over the one firm that has successfully commercialised the advanced technology central to 802.11n. The industry rebuffed this maneuvre.
A small Canadian university has ruled out campus-wide wireless Internet access because its president fears the system's electromagnetic forces could pose a risk to students' health.
Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has only a limited Wi-Fi connections at present, in places where there is no fiber-optic Internet connection. And that, according to president Fred Gilbert, is just fine.
The City of London has signed an agreement to blanket the square mile with Wi-Fi access.
The network, installed and managed by The Cloud, will go live shortly and cover the entire City in the next six months. The facility will provide city workers with wireless Internet access for laptops outside of traditional venues such as coffee shops, as well as on the move connectivity for PDAs and mobile phones.
The City is intending to hide the masts in existing street furniture, such as lampposts and street signs. The network will be open to any service provider.
Firms need to do more to ensure the security of mobile devices used by staff in Wi-Fi hotspots provided by wireless internet service providers (Wisps) or other third parties, according to a new report. Failure to do so could result in legal problems if, for example, data is stolen.
The report, compiled by law firm Charles Russell in association with managed Wisp iBahn, says that although there have so far been no such legal actions in the UK, the dangers are increasing, which may push more companies to promote enforceable security policies.
The nationwide rush to go wireless appears poised to extend to its biggest city yet.
Chicago is launching an effort to offer wireless broadband, city officials said Friday, jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon as similar initiatives proceed in Philadelphia, San Francisco and smaller cities.
A friend of mine has an aunt who lives in Los Angeles. Recently she decided that she would like to have wireless networking in her home, and although she is not a techie, went out and bought a laptop and a Wi-Fi router, set up the base station and plugged it into her ADSL modem.
With one bound, she was free. Her computer no longer needed to be tethered, like a goat, to the wall. She could surf the web from every room in the house. It was intoxicating. But there was, she reported to her nephew, one mysterious fly in the ointment - her email wasn't working properly.
Wi-Fi site survey tools are starting to include spectrum analysis, so network managers can set up more reliable wireless LANs with one trip round the office.
AirMagnet has combined its RF analysis tool (launched last year, into the latest version of AirMagnet Survey, which also includes GPS linkage to make for easier data gathering. Wireless survey specialist Ekahau, meanwhile, has had its product adopted by network measurement company.
Setting up a wireless Internet hotspot at your local cafe is relatively easy.
Building a secure, affordable high-speed wireless network to cover Silicon Valley's 1,500 square miles could cost tens of millions of dollars and pose major technical challenges. Nothing like it has been done in the United States, experts say.
