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If you're thinking about
building a wireless network for your home or
office, it pays to implement it as securely as
possible. Remember how you listened to your
next-door neighbor's conversation with her
mother-in-law about what happened at last year's
4th of July party on your baby monitor? Like all
radio frequencies, anyone with a receiver can
tune into a wireless channel, so you need to
take extra precautions to prevent your
neighbor and cyber criminals from listening in.
The primary reason for building a wireless LAN
(WLAN) is for increased mobility — so you can
move around from room to room without being
tethered to a network jack. Another reason
people like wireless LANs is because they can
network their computers together without having
to snake wires through their walls. Since you
don't have to deal with the wires, building a
wireless LAN maybe the way to go. We here at
XamNet can help you with all your WLAN needs
from setting it up to securing it.
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Wireless
Networking
 WLAN
(Wireless Local Area Network) is the wireless way to
handle networking. The big advantage of WLAN is its
simplicity. You can connect computers anywhere in your
office without the need for wires. The computers connect
to the network using radio signals, and computers can be
up to 100 feet or so apart.
 802.11b
transmits at 2.4 GHz and can handle up to 11 megabits
per second.
802.11g
operates at 2.4Ghz and can handle up to 54 megabits per
second
A
wireless network uses an access point, or base station
to communicate across the network. In this type of
network the access point acts like a hub, providing
connectivity for the wireless computers. It can connect
(or "bridge") the wireless LAN to a wired LAN, allowing
wireless computer access to LAN resources, such as file
servers or existing Internet Connectivity.
One
of the best things about WLAN is how simple it is. Many
new laptops already come with a WLAN card built in -- in
many cases you don't have to do anything to start using
WLAN. It is also easy to add a WLAN card to an older
laptop or a desktop PC.
Security
and encryption are key components of setting up a WLAN
network and careful planning and design must be taken in
order to secure the network from unwanted breaches.
Wireless LAN security has come of age with the wealth of
hardware and software products that have recently
emerged on the market to address this challenging need.
A
good security solution starts with good network security
policies. Mandates of strong passwords on all network
resources, especially Access Points/Switches/Routers
(wired and wireless) and all servers are essential to
good security. Our WLAN network security audit includes
checks in all of these key areas.
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