Six months ago, Al Fitzpatrick sat at his desk in a skyscraper in Atlanta's Buckhead district and wondered what his wireless-enabled neighbors were up to. He had no evidence that anyone was trying to hack into the wireless networks at the Atlanta headquarters of S1 (SONE), a financial-services software company where Fitzpatrick is chief security officer. With $250 million in annual revenues and thousands of institutional customers using S1 software to manipulate highly sensitive financial data, Fitzpatrick had reason to be cautious.

S1 already used so-called virtual private networks (VPNs) - encrypted communications tunnels that carry sensitive data traffic over the company's growing web of wireless networks. So Fitzpatrick knew his wireless data was relatively secure. Still, with "drive-by hacking" and successful break-ins of VPNs becoming more prevalent, Fitzpatrick figured better safe than sorry. "I like to be in control of my network," he says. "It's not knowing what's out there that worries me."

[ Read more ]

Related items

• Review: Real 802.11 Security: Wi-Fi Protected Access and 802.11i (3 November 2003)
• Review: 802.11 Security (3 October 2003)
• Article: Wireless Security: Preventing Your Data From Vanishing Into Thin Air (16 September 2003)
• Review: Installing, Troubleshooting, and Repairing Wireless Networks (5 September 2003)
• Review: Building Secure Wireless Networks with 802.11 (28 August 2003)
• Review: How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN (22 August 2003)
• Article: Lack of Security at Wireless Conferences (6 August 2003)
• Review: WiFi Security (9 July 2003)
• Review: Wireless Security End to End (4 June 2003)
• Review: The Complete Wireless Internet and Mobile Business Programming Training Course (28 May 2003)
• Review: Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks (14 May 2003)
• Article: Positive Identification in a Wireless World (6 May 2003)
• Article: Warchalking and Other Wireless Worries (3 April 2003)
• Article: How to Make Wireless Networks Secure (26 March 2003)
• Article: Interview with Cyrus Peikari, CEO of AirScanner Mobile Security (24 February 2003)
• Review: Maximum Wireless Security (17 February 2003)
• Article: Detecting Wireless LAN MAC Address Spoofing (22 January 2003)
• Article: Avoid Wireless LAN Security Pitfalls (17 January 2003)
• Article: Interview with Jay Chaudhry, CEO of AirDefense (7 January 2003)
• Review: Wireless Security and Privacy: Best Practices and Design Techniques (17 December 2002)