FARMINGTON HILLS – Improperly designed WLANs leave organizations exposed to the risk of unauthorized access, and protecting WLANs is key to the successful deployment of wireless infrastructure.
Organizations should identify and address key security issues so they can safely support the inevitable movement to wireless computing while protecting the data that flows through WLANs.
Passwords are easily forgotten and simple to steal? particularly over wireless networks where they can be ?sniffed? out. Good passwords are comprised of complicated combinations of letters, numbers and special characters that make them difficult to guess?and difficult to remember.
An effective password policy requires a user to change passwords on a regularly scheduled basis, but the combination of numerous, hard to remember passwords and strict password policies puts a strain on the end user and causes an ever-increasing number of password-related calls to the help desk.
The deployment of strong, two-factor authentication with WLANs that support EAP protocols allows the enterprise to secure WLANs. Organizations can deploy RSA SecurID tokens to users that provide a constantly changing passcode that a user enters with his-or-her PIN to gain network access.
Each user is provided a hardware-based token small enough to attach to a keychain, and it displays a new access code every 60 seconds. The user just needs to key in the access code and his-or-her PIN to gain secure WLAN access. Organizations can also distribute software-based tokens that can allow wireless devices such as smart phones or personal digital assistants to authenticate. There are two implementation options for strong, two-factor authentication to WLANs:
Virtual Private Network (VPN) WLAN access
Native WLAN access
To receive a free white paper on Securing WLANs with Two-Factor Authentication, contact your Netarx Account Manager by sending an email to If you have a story idea, email it to [email protected]
