Configured Newsreel for WLAN Security

When I configured my bolgspot to display Newsreel on 'WLAN Security', here is what I see today. Out of the 4 news items, one is regarding an Exam Guide on CCENT/CCNA and rest are press releases from different companies. Surprisingly, all three companies have their names starting with Air... and all three have their press release mention the same MarketScope on WLAN Intrusion Prevention System from a Leading Analyst Firm. It turns out that this leading analyst firm is Gartner and MarketScope is a report offering "snapshot of a market's direction, maturity and participants".

The first item of Newsreel mentions that AirTight is Rated "Positive" in this report. It seems from this press release that the vendors were evaluated for this report on five criteria -- customer experience, offering strategy, overall viability, marketing execution, product/service. According to the press release AirTight has received 'Positive' rating from Gartner for the second time. 

The press release says-

According to the MarketScope report, "Wireless networks remain a potentially significant vulnerability for enterprises, as a continuing stream of WLAN-based security incidents demonstrates. Since the majority of enterprises are now supporting wireless LANs, enterprises need to assure that vulnerability management and intrusion prevention processes are extended to cover wireless networks as well as wired networks. WLAN security monitoring is required to assure that supported WLANs are kept secure and that users do not install their own technology where WLANs (or faster technology, such as 802.11n) are not supported."

This strengthens my belief that wireless LAN security is required. The above statement mentions the need of security even in the installations where WLANs are not supported. This is more than what I asked for. AirTight has links to the MarketScope report all over its website. More on the report later.

The next item on the Newsreel is a sample chapter from the book CCENT/CCNA ICND1 Exam Guide: Introduction to Wireless LANs from Cisco Press. This chapter has a section on Wireless LAN Security and table 11-8 on this chapter lists the WLAN vulnerabilities and their solution. Another confirmation for the need of security in WLAN installations.

I shall go through the other two items of Newsreel in my next blog.