Wireless intrusion prevention has been getting Brad-and-Angelina-like attention during the past few months.
A number of companies have been joining the market or enhancing their products that scan the 802.11 airwaves for improved security or performance, to deploy location-tracking applications, or to identify sources of interference.
A particularly helpful development: Sensors from AirMagnet, Network Chemistry, Newbury Networks and possibly others can now monitor the air for compliance with the wireless requirements of various legislative mandates, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Gramm-Leach Bliley Act and Department of Defense Directive (DoDD) 8100.2 initiatives.
You can customize which mandates apply to your business and integrate them into reports that these vendors’ monitoring systems generate on the security status of your Wi-Fi system. For example, depending on your organizational profile, a given mandate may or may not apply to you and may or may not require encryption. If encryption is required, it may be required in different components of the 802.11 system, depending on your profile.
The reports will spit out the specific clauses that pertain to wireless in your category, then display what percentage of your wireless installation is in compliance, as well as, specifically, which devices are not in compliance. Then the report will delineate what to do to make everything hunky-dory.
Useful!
Other developments:
* AirMagnet has upgraded its distributed-sensor system to Enterprise Version 6.0. The latest release, in addition to the compliance reporting, correlates activity from multiple locations to discover simultaneous attacks. AirMagnet has also integrated its software with Cisco APIs, such that you can use Cisco 1230 access points as sensors instead of AirMagnet’s own sensors.
* Wireless LAN system makers Colubris and Xirrus are reselling AirMagnet Enterprise, which combines intrusion prevention and wireless performance monitoring.
* Bluesocket is scheduled to begin shipping security sensors as part of its new BlueSecure family of Wi-Fi products, including access points and controller, this month. The company announced the product line in early May.
* AirTight Networks formally jumped into the security side of the game in early May when it began shipping SpectraGuard 3.0. It touts its advantage as an ability to automatically classify devices and threats (rather than requiring IT staff to do so manually) and the simultaneous detection and prevention of multiple threats from a single sensor.
