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Weigh and mitigate wireless risks: there need be no security trade-off

Wireless is a smart bet that is gaining corporate momentum, but the security concerns have put corporate spend in a holding pattern. “Security is certainly a big issue but standards are rapidly being ratified and the picture is becoming clear,” says Mark Lilje, MD at RangeGate. “There are several layers of security that can be implemented to safeguard sensitive data. It just takes some common sense.

Mark Lilje

"We have been in this market for 14 years, and we know of hundreds of wireless networks running in South Africa, many of them in the warehousing and distribution arenas - and we have implemented many of them. The focus is now shifting to the office environment, but companies wary of adoption are losing the opportunity to invest in architecture that could be of enormous benefit. The solution is to implement with caution, remaining aware of, and mitigating security risks according to the sensitivity of data with the technologies at hand.

"In three years' time we will have seamless roaming between WLANs and cellular networks and, according to researchers, in 15 years there will be more data travelling over WLANs than over cell networks. Locally, the wireless infrastructure market is expected to be worth R1 billion in revenues by 2005. and this excludes access and client device revenues," says Dave Scruse, account manager: wireless networking at RangeGate

"It is easy to get tangled up. Wireless security offers a maze of choices and the slow pace of security standards ratification has given rise to a number of interim solutions," says Lilje. "But do not get caught up in the hype.

"Yes, people can eavesdrop on your wireless communications and hack in through your wireless network if you do not put the right levels of authentication and encryption in place, but the security solutions are here. The latest 802.11i standard is ready to be ratified early next year. Upgrade paths are also being built into new products and alternatives (such as a switch which replaces the access point, with all the advantages of greater intelligence and component upgradeability) are being developed, cutting the cost associated with traditional wireless rip and replace strategies."

Just as important is to lock down the rest of the wireless value chain. Client device asset management, network management, and the physical security of your wireless infrastructure also play a role. Wireless LAN solutions are no longer islands of specialised functionality; they have to be integrated into the rest of the network infrastructure and applications.

"The risk and costs associated with wireless solutions need to be carefully weighed and mitigated - there need be no trade-off on security. It is essential that users and enterprise architects understand the issues, however - connectivity and setup are critical."

A quick glance through the wireless security standards developments paints the background against which companies must develop their security architectures.

The choices

"There is the tried and true IP Security (IPSec) that can be used in a virtual private network but it is limited to IP traffic, with all the complications of wired IPSec, such as configuration complexity and the requirement of client-side code," explains Scruse.

"Then there is the 802.11 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol. WEP's short and static encryption keys do not offer much in the way of security but proprietary and other solutions are attempting to make up for this. Companies such as Symbol have developed an enhanced key rotation technology, for example, that varies the security keys used in WEP at user-specified intervals, making it more difficult for an eavesdropper to obtain enough information to crack WEP keys. Vendors such as Cisco have also developed proprietary solutions that are built into their products. The problem here is that the user is limited to using one vendor's products.

"One up on this is Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), which the Wi-Fi Alliance vendor group announced last October. The first WPA-certified products are expected to become available this year based on the first WPA-certified chipsets. Of course South Africa is usually about six months behind on adoption and implementation of these products," says Scruse.

WPA offers stronger encryption with a firmware upgrade that overwrites WEP, and adds authentication protocol 802.1X.

The other choice is the IEEE's 802.11i. It is the WPA standard with stronger encryption and is expected to be completed early next year. Products that claim full or partial 802.11i compliance might begin to ship before 802.11i's ratification. Fully compliant products may only begin to appear in the second quarter of 2004."

The real issues

"The real issues are upgrade paths, migration, integration and compatibility. Of encryption and authentication, the latter is currently the weakest link. Authentication depends on the IETF and there are five incompatible variants of extensible authentication protocol (EAP) that can be used with 802.1X, including proprietary versions from vendors such as Cisco," explains Scruse. "The client and access points have to use the same version for proper authentication. Meanwhile, the EAPs are all at different stages of development or maturity and have different levels of compatibility.

"Replacement also currently means 'rip', which in turn can destroy the solution's estimated ROI because it negates the depreciation period of the equipment. ROI is thus not something many want to bet on.

"A blended or dual access point environment is one solution, while other users are placing their bets with a single vendor, relying on their speed and security upgrade paths. The alternative is to go with IPSec VPNs until the 802.11 standards have matured and de facto EAP winners emerge."

Conclusion

"The value proposition of wireless technologies has been proven; it is now a matter of deciding where and how you want to gear for inclusion of wireless solutions into your existing enterprise architecture," says Lilje. "The single biggest success factor is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the wireless strategy you choose and ensuring that suitable measures are in place to gain the business advantage without the risk."

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