Wireless

Is using an empty baked-bean can to grab a Wi-Fi signal from a mile away high technology? The answer is yes if you're an entrant in Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair being held this week in Phoenix. Steven Buss, an 18-year-old Wi-Fi buff from Palm City, Florida, built three different types of antennas to see which provided the greatest range for his wireless network. The best performer, made from a "biquad" antenna and a used DirectTV satellite dish bought on EBay, picked up the wireless signal 1.3 miles away.

Almost 40pc of wireless networks in Dublin do not use encryption technology, leaving them unsecured and vulnerable to being accessed by unauthorised third parties.

Security firm AirDefense is issuing a warning against a new phishing scheme that targets WiFi networks.

The Atlant-based firm said the scam was first discovered at a wireless local area network event in the United Kingdom and was detected against last week at the Interop trade show in Las Vegas.

As a network security consultant, I travel quite frequently. At times, it seems like the airport is my second home. I actually like to fly, it's a moment in time where no one can reach me by e-mail, or mobile phone.

Major companies are calling for wireless product manufacturers to improve security standards and say vendors should not expect users to take on the burden.

International user group the Jericho Forum says one of its highest priorities is to draw up a set of wireless security requirements for suppliers.

IT security officers at last week's Infosecurity Europe conference in London told Computing that wireless manufacturers should design out security flaws before launching products, rather than push the responsibility onto customers.

Wireless LAN chipset maker Atheros Communications has released one of its key security technologies to the open source community.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company submitted code for its JumpStart for Wireless security configuration software to SourceForge.net for use by anyone in the wireless LAN industry. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has already certified the code for JumpStart for Wireless.

MORE than half of central Manchester businesses' wireless Internet networks are vulnerable to attack.

Hackers could easily break into the networks to introduce viruses or read personal and other secret information.

In a drive-by check, a team of ethical hackers using a basic laptop located 286 separate networks in and around the city centre without leaving their car. Of these only 123 - 43 per cent - had any form of encryption.

Concerns that the perceived security problems of wireless networks of all sizes could cause companies to delay deployment has prompted three industry giants - BT, Cisco and Intel - to issue Wireless Security Guidelines for organisations.

The guidelines are designed for enterprise wireless networks, home wireless networks and public wireless networks.

802.11b networks are proliferating like mad. Even though faster wireless networks are now available, 802.11b offers users what they want at a reasonably low price. While the high throughput of other technologies is attractive to large Local Area Networks (LANs) and people wanting to use wireless for high-end home entertainment purposes, 802.11b's 11Mbit/sec is more than enough to hook up a handful of clients in your home to the Wide Area Network (WAN), which in most cases is simply the Internet.

Use of public wireless hotspots is increasing, giving mobile workers and others access to essential data. The bad news: Security threats against hotspot users also are increasing.

That's the word from Richard Rushing and he should know since he is chief security officer for AirDefense, which specializes in security of mobile workers.

"The usage rate at hotspots has dramatically increased in the last six months or so -- more people are using them," Rushing said. "But we are starting to see more malicious activity."