On Wed, 2004-09-15 at 09:01, Levi Bard wrote:
> I wouldn't worry about it too much. One more would be a drop in the
> bucket at this point. Or maybe I should say a spit in the hurricane?
Liability.
I regularly have to fight companies on allowing open system access to
WLANs. Or worse yet, because of some flaky WEP implementations in cheap
hardware by cost-cutting over quality OEMs *COUGH*Dell*COUGH*, I will
come back into client offices to find they've changed their access
points from "shared key" with MAC filters to "open system and shared
key" and no MAC filters -- let alone broadcasting their SSID to the
world.
Even if I setup an IPCop, SonicWall or WatchGuard system with a
segmented WLAN (absolute must IMHO), with a VPN connection required to
access the LAN, there is still the liability of just anyone connecting
to their wireless and launching an attack over the Internet. Or, far
worse yet, doing a localized and very high speed DoS against my servers
(of which, some of my clients operate major hosting presences of high
profile client enterprises).
With an average of 2-5 other access points of other company's within
range, preventing open system access and filtering by MAC are my two
main concerns. Compatibility with OEM hardware be damned, keep extra
WLAN PCCards around -- they are cheap, and solve the problem with OEMs
cut corners.
-- Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Communities don't have rights. Only individuals in the community have rights. ... That idea of community rights is firmly rooted in the 'Communist Manifesto.'" -- Michael Badnarik----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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