Although the no-wireless policy may be appropriate for high-security environments, most organizations feel pressure from users--and often from senior management--to deploy secure production WLANs. In our reader survey, lack of user demand was cited as the least significant barrier to WLAN adoption (see sidebar, "What You Said About WLAN Security,"). Most IT managers we've spoken to see wireless as positive and inevitable. It's not if, but when. Although some continue to wait for the perfect time to get some skin in the game, the smarter play is to deploy a test bed to serve immediate needs and let your technical staff gain experience in locking down your airwaves.
It's Not Like Ethernet
Although WLANs have much in common with Ethernet, including a similar contention-based MAC (Media Access Control) architecture that has led some to refer to them as wireless Ethernet, it's inappropriate to apply the same security policies to both. With Ethernet, you can provide a base level of physical protection by securing the Ethernet medium and isolating traffic using Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches, but that's not possible with WLANs because all devices share a common medium--the airwaves. Although some organizations have employed 802.1x authentication to control access to their Ethernet networks, most provide a much less granular means of security, and they usually do so at Layer 3 and above.
Wireless is different, mainly because the medium is nearly impossible to control physically. Worst case, attackers equipped with high-gain directional antennas access your airwaves from outside your facilities--a trivial undertaking requiring an investment of less than $100. Because of this reality, WLANs require sophisticated, multilayered security. You must find a way to manage the medium, enforce access control at Layer 2 and implement higher-layer security just as you would on a wired LAN.
The main requirements of WLAN security fall into three areas: authentication, privacy and authorization. Managers also should consider physical protection of WLAN infrastructure devices, vulnerability assessment and intrusion detection.
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