Wireless security

Wireless security is the prevention of unauthorized access or damage to computers using wireless networks.

The most common types of wireless security are Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA).

WEP is one of the least secure forms of security.

A network that is secured with WEP has been cracked in 3 minutes by the FBI .

WEP is an old IEEE 802.11 standard from 1999 which was outdated in 2003 by WPA or Wi-Fi Protected Access.

WPA was a quick alternative for those wishing to get away from the problematic WEP security.


There are some pieces of hardware that cannot support WPA2 without being replaced or having the firmware upgraded.

WPA2 uses an encryption device which encrypts the network with a 256 bit key.

This adds a multitude of security more than WEP does to the wireless network.

Many laptop computers have wireless cards pre-installed.

The ability to enter a network while mobile has great benefits.

However, wireless networking is prone to some security issues .


Crackers have found wireless networks relatively easy to break into, and even use wireless technology to crack into wired networks .

As a result, it's very important that enterprises define effective wireless security policies that guard against unauthorized access to important resources.

Wireless Intrusion Prevention Systems (WIPS) or Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems (WIDS) are commonly used to enforce wireless security policies.

The risks to users of wireless technology have increased as the service has become more popular.

There were relatively few dangers when wireless technology was first introduced.


Crackers had not yet had time to latch on to the new technology and wireless was not commonly found in the work place.

However, there are a great number of security risks associated with the current wireless protocols and encryption methods, and in the carelessness and ignorance that exists at the user and corporate IT level.

Cracking methods have become much more sophisticated and innovative with wireless.

Cracking has also become much easier and more accessible with easy-to-use Windows or Linux-based tools being made available on the web at no charge.


Some organizations that have no wireless access points installed do not feel that they need to address wireless security concerns.

In-Stat MDR and META Group have estimated that 95% of all corporate laptop computers that were planned to be purchased in 2005 were equipped with wireless.

Issues can arise in a supposedly non-wireless organization when a wireless laptop is plugged into the corporate network.

A cracker could sit out in the parking lot and gather info from it through laptops and/or other devices as handhelds, or even break in through this wireless card-equipped laptop and gain access to the wired network.

One issue with corporate wireless networks in general, and WLANs in particular, involves the need for security.


Many early access points could not discern whether or not a particular user had authorization to access the network.

Although this problem reflects issues that have long troubled many types of wired networks (it has been possible in the past for individuals to plug computers into randomly available Ethernet jacks and get access to a local network), this did not usually pose a significant problem, since many organizations had reasonably good physical security.

However, the fact that radio signals bleed outside of buildings and across property lines makes physical security largely irrelevant to Piggybackers.