Over the course of the past three years, wireless technologies have taken the networking world by storm. Where once a length of Ethernet cable tethered most users, they can now roam freely within most home and office environments, connecting to both internal systems and the Internet from laptops and PDAs with few constraints. While this newfound mobility helps to eliminate many of the inconveniences typically associated with accessing a home or business network, it also brings with it numerous challenges from a security perspective.
While securing a wireless network isn’t terribly difficult, the unfortunate reality is that the majority of wireless networks aren’t properly secured. In a best-case scenario, external users might only use your unsecured wireless network to “borrow” access to the Internet. At worst, these users could end up with completely free reign on your network, with the ability to access sensitive files and information. If you’re currently thinking about implementing a wireless network or already have one installed, properly securing it needs to be a priority.