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Access "Integrated wired and wireless LAN security? Not so fast"

Rivka Gewirtz Little, Senior Site Editor Published: 10 Oct 2012
Wired and wireless: Can you achieve an integrated network?

This article is part of the April 2011 Vol. 2, No. 2 issue of Wired and wireless: Can you achieve an integrated network?

Many vendors preach integrated wired and wireless LAN security solutions, but some network security pros, like Ruairi Brennan, IT security analyst at The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) of Ireland, don't see the point. After all, isolating wired and wireless networks keeps vulnerabilities that are unique to the Wi-Fi network away from the wired network, says Brennan. The ESB's wireless LAN serves between 8,000 and 10,000 users with 60 Aruba Networks access points (APs). It was built to provide wireless access in conference rooms and other areas that the existing wired LAN didn't serve well. For security, the ESB turned to AirTight's SpectraGuard Enterprise Wireless IPS (a wireless intrusion prevention system product) and the SpectraGuard SAFE endpoint protection system. Deployed together, these products can stop “bridging” between wired and wireless networks. “It's a massive security risk if you have someone on the LAN simultaneously accessing an outside wireless access point,” Brennan said. “You could be bridging between a secure LAN and [what could be] an ... Access >>>

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