Slicing and dicing the state of WLAN security
By Christine Burns, NetworkWorld.com, 09/27/04
I think that every once in a while it’s important to take a closer look at things from different – but very focused -- angle.
We've done a ton of wireless gear testing over the past two years. We've looked at everything from access points to wireless switched to wireless management tools. Evaluating these products for performance, management features, provisioning capabilities and ease of use. And while security has always been a factor in those tests, we've never jumped in with both feet in terms of evaluating which products would actually be the safest additions to your enterprise network as a whole.
That is, we haven't, until now.
Network World Lab Alliance members Joel Snyder and Rodney Thayer collaborated to test 23 products from 17 vendors in three product categories: NICS, access points and switches. They evaluated these wares in terms of their WEP implementations, their 802.1X authentication capabilities, their support for vendor-driven security specs like WPA and 802.11i, their innovative non-standard security features, and, finally, where these products stand up – and fall down -- if push them through a round of penetration testing.
The testing was long. The testing was tedious at times. But the testing was certainly worthwhile, as the final report will provide bottom line recommendations in terms of which products will and won't prove to be security hazards if you put them into your network.
Click for complete test results. Let us know what you think.
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