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| As the previous sections have indicated, there are ways to use additional security tools and approaches to remedy known deficiencies in Wi-Fi. Pick your wireless security solutions wisely to protect your company's data while encouraging the most productivity from your mobile employees. |
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| WPA2 is your best choice for Wi-Fi security. Both WPA2 and WPA are based on the 802.11i standard and incorporate 802.1X port access control, which together remedy WEP's inability to provide authentication or confidentiality. |
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| 802.11i uses the AES protocol, chosen by the U.S. National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) to replace the older, less powerful Data Encryption Standard (DES). AES is a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) described in FIPS Publication 197; it defines an encryption algorithm for U.S. government use specifically to protect sensitive unclassified data. |
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| Although security is a critical function on the network, you can install multiple versions of 802.11. If you're currently using 802.11b as your network standard and have a newer mobile device with 802.11g capability, you don't have to do anything to the network to make this change. If you have an older PC or notebook, you may need a wireless card to make the move to 802.11g. |
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| 802.11n is the newest breakthrough technology that offers the best connection for computer networking and home entertainment applications. 802.11n offers the performance, range and bandwidth required for today's multimedia products and applications. Whereas corporate users can improve network robustness and capacity, home users can stream online gaming and high-definition video on a single network and experience fast file transfers of music and photos. This standard is backward compatible to 802.11b/g. |
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| A well-built, properly secured wireless network can support a wide variety of applications, from based web browsing and email to sophisticated multi-media applications like video and voice over IP (VoIP). When building your network, it's important to plan capacity and security to satisfy the applications that it must support. |
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| For example, VoIP protocols send voice information over public and private networks in digital form, rather than using traditional circuit-committed protocols over the public switched telephone network. Many businesses are moving to VoIP as their primary phone service, and running VoIP over both their wired and wireless networks. When doing so, it's important to consider the security consequences. Like any other application, VoIP messages are susceptible to standard data attacks, such as eavesdropping, spamming and phishing scams (called vishing when using the voice network). You can use the security techniques discussed here (WPA, WPA2 and 802.1X) to stop unauthorized wireless VoIP phones from accessing your network, injecting phony or replayed VoIP messages or listening in on private VoIP calls. |
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| HP's various product and service offerings make it easy to build and manage secure wireless networks. You can work with HP sales professionals or HP resellers to design and purchase wireless solutions or work with HP Service to make sure that security issues are appropriately addressed in your implementations and deployments. Either way, you can take advantage of the flexibility and power of wireless networking with confidence. |
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| For good basic descriptions of Wi-Fi and related technical vocabulary, look them up at Whatis.com. |
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| To get a good general understanding of wireless networking, including an introduction to terms, concepts, and technologies with many additional pointers to resources, consult WKMN's Wireless Networking Mini-Tutorial. And to keep up with wireless news, visit Wi-FiPlanet.com. |
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| HP Services offers assistance in dealing with security threats and in streamlining appropriate information access for employees, customers and partners. See the HP Security Services web page for more information. |
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Practical Wi-Fi security |
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