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Wireless Security – Managing
the Liability
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) are transforming enterprise
networks with high speed connections across the airwaves that
cost effectively extend the boundaries of the conventional
wired network and enhance productivity.
WLAN – Risk vs. Reward
The airborne nature of the 802.11 WLAN opens it to intruders
and attacks that can come from any direction. Often times
an intruder’s physical presence within the confines of
your facility is not necessary, when the parking lot next
door will do. WLAN are vulnerable to intruders and hackers
who:
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Listen to the airwaves
and eavesdrop on unencrypted messages or crack the encryption |
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Steal an authorized user’s identity
and gain access to the entire network |
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Launch Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
that cripple the WLAN by jamming or flooding the airwaves |
The landscape of today’s wireless environment is confusing
and complicated. The alphabet soup of IEEE Standards and Authentication
methods make security decisions and strategies difficult to
achieve. Only in best case, homogeneous situations, can manufacturer’s
security offerings work to meet the concerns and demands of
today’s business environment.
What does Wireless Security look like?
Companies are deploying firewalls and VPN gateways to secure
the WLAN traffic once it reaches the wired network. While
this is a good start, the real danger lies in the airwaves.
Encryption and authentication of WLAN traffic is essential,
but WLAN also require monitoring and defenses to identify
and respond to new threats unique to WLANs.
ISI’s primary goal is to deliver turnkey
wireless solutions based on secure, reliable, and best in
class hardware and services available. Utilizing our fundamental
knowledge of wireless technology, ISI delivers a security
solution that protects your wireless network by monitoring
and analyzing WLAN traffic to discover network vulnerabilities,
protect against intruders and attacks, enforce network policies,
and manage the network to maximize performance.
ISI embraces a philosophy based on supporting
the individual needs of various 802.11 networks with WLAN
security solution that can begin by serving small WLAN deployments
and scale to support enterprise WLAN’s with hundreds
of access points and thousands of clients.
Let’s Get Specific…
Our evaluation and process of a reliable security solution
begins and ends with the customer’s best interests in
mind. We choose from a variety of “Best in Class”
solutions to determine the best fit for the problem presented.
The criteria that we insure is the following:
Where does one start?
To fully realize the benefits of the investment in a wireless
infrastructure, they must be secure, flexible, and easy to
manage. At ISI we strive to provide Wireless
Security Solutions that are agnostic to standards, work in
your existing environment and ensure compatibility with the
technologies of the future.
Our process begins with a Security Audit and Performance Assessment.
This is a procedure that evaluates your current or planned
wireless architecture for optimum performance, shapes signals
to cover only the areas intended, and flush out unauthorized
users or Rogue Access Points. A comprehensive deliverable
is then created to provide the customer with complete plan
of action to address the found concerns.
Hardware alone does not simply solve security problems, careful
attention to proper installation, integration, and management
are all integral parts of a successful ongoing security strategy.
ISI’s commitment to the customer is to advise
in the selection of the “Best in Class” hardware,
install this equipment as component of a comprehensive strategy,
and create the cultural understanding of ongoing practices.
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