Is your connection secure? - Trends - Brief Article

Communications News,  July, 2002  

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The question facing Wi-Fi users is whether or not they have a secure connection. The answer, according to Francis Anton Jr., vice president of advanced technology at hereUare Communications, San Jose, CA, is encouraging. "It is not really a big issue at this stage of the game. The chances that someone is sniffing your enterprise network or a public access network, you are using are fairly small.

"Beyond that," says Anton, "hacking a network is not quite as easy as it sounds. The amount of data required is quite daunting unless the hacker gets really lucky. A hacker typically has to gather around three to four million packets to attack a network. That takes a lot of time, and it is hard for the hacker to go unnoticed doing it.

"For many Wi-Fi users who have a virtual private network (VPN), their data is very secure. A VPN is strong encryption and cannot be easily broken by a casual interloper," he points out.

As Wi-Fi becomes ubiquitous, Anton adds, then security will become a larger issue. "By the time that Wi-Fi is everywhere, Wi-Fi's security will be quite strong. But, for the meantime, we recommend using a third-party security solution, such as a VPN, to ensure the privacy of your data."

For more information from hereUare Communications: www.rsleads.com/207cn-263

COPYRIGHT 2002 Nelson Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group