Wireless

Source: LinuxSecurity.com

Source: CNN.com

Thousands of tech enthusiasts across Europe are setting up wireless communities to get free Internet access.

Groups -- from one family to several hundred people -- share a wireless network connection which they say is as free as air.

The ideology behind the movement is to free people from their monthly Internet access charges.

Source: Newsforge.com

I was in the computer section of Circuit City, a major consumer electronics retailer, when I saw an 802.11b wireless router on sale for $89 (after $30 mail-in rebate). A salesman walked up and asked if he could help me. I asked, "Can you tell me if this works with Linux?" He said, "It sure does." This short conversation tells you just how far Linux has come in the last few years, and the router itself shows how far wireless networking has come.

Source: OS Opinion

Anyone who has tried to set up a wireless network using Windows 2000 Advanced Server or other Windows operating systems has my sympathy and, frankly, deserves a medal. Nothing should be that difficult.

That brings me to the new Networking Wizard that's included with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows XP . Using it, I was able to install my network and have it up and running with broadband Internet access using a cable modem in less than 10 minutes.

Studies by industry analysts forecast even greater demand for wireless and mobile devices, creating substantial opportunities for wireless device application and service providers. Faced with an increasingly difficult challenge in raising both average revenue per user (ARPU) and numbers of subscribers, wireless carriers and their partners are developing a host of new products, services, and business models based on data services.

Source: News.com.AU

THE growing popularity of wireless technology is opening corporate networks to hackers as administrators face a trade-off between security and demand for easy access.

Companies are rolling out wireless networks because they are cheaper and more flexible than cable, but the nature of wireless and lack of strong encryption technologies means they are vulnerable to attack.

Source: FCW.com

Military leaders agree that wireless communication is the wave of the future, but they also agree that it needs far greater security features to become deployable and reliable on the battlefield.
Air Force Maj. Gen. John Bradley, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command's joint task force for computer network operations, said the Defense Department not only needs more secure wireless tools, it also needs them to be smaller with solid encryption and authentication features.

Source: 80211-planet.com

For those who have been putting off buying an 802.11b-based wireless LAN because it's too slow at that measly 11 or 22 megabits per second (Mbps), yet don't want higher-speed 802.11a products because they aren't compatible with all the WLAN equipment already out there, or you don't want to spend the extra cash on the hybrid dual-band products -- perhaps your time has come.

Source: Wired.com

The biggest security risks for "Wi-Fi" wireless Internet networks are that users sometimes fail to turn on their encryption software. But even the responsible ones who use the encryption program -- Wired Equivalent Privacy -- aren't immune to malicious attacks.
A growing trend on the streets of Manhattan are WarDrivers who break into wireless networks for fun. A professional hacker or anyone with significant programming knowledge can hack through WEP and even steal data off the network.

Source: Joshua Wright