Wireless networking is still a somewhat new, and emerging technology. Its popularity continues to grow and more and more organizations are deploying wireless networks, or exploring what the benefits might be if they choose to implement a wireless network. They can make users more productive, and more efficient, but they can also create a huge security risk if not properly configured.

The original wireless security mechanism, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), was quickly shown to have fatal flaws which render it barely better than having no security at all. In fact, perhaps no security at all is better because at least then you know you are insecure and you don’t have the illusion that you may be secure.

Aside from a fundamental flaw in the implementation of the encryption algorithm, one issue with WEP is its reliance on a pre-shared key Full article…

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As more users have migrated to mobile computing, using laptops instead of desktops to enable them to carry their work home or on the road, corporations and security administrators have had to struggle with the resulting security implications. Most enterprises have some form of VPN (Virtual Private Networking) to allow remote users to connect securely with network resources on the internal network, but that is only part of the battle.

In the past few years, story after story after story has hit the news regarding information security breaches resulting from laptops that are lost or stolen. The Home Depot, Boeing, and The Gap stories are just a handful of examples of lost or stolen laptops containing sensitive and personal information on hundreds of thousands of individuals. With the rise in the use of mobile computing, organizations need to implement security that protects the data on the device in case it is lost or stolen.

In some versions of Windows Vista, and in the upcoming Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has incorporated a new technology that can help protect data on laptops and provide some assurance that the data will not be compromised even if the laptop falls into the wrong hands. Bitlocker encrypts all user files and system files Full article…

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