Report: Enterprises failing to secure wireless networks
Nearly a quarter of all firms are operating unprotected wireless networks, according to a new report from wireless security vendor AirDefense.
Testing 1,000 US companies, the firm found that 22 per cent of enterprises, including financial services, are failing to encrypt wireless networks, while a further 30 per cent are using Wired Equivalent
Privacy (WEP), the weakest protocol for wireless data encryption.
Only 47 per cent of companies were using stronger protocols including Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2 to protect their access points.
AirDefense said that the results suggested many IT leaders haven not yet come to terms with the scale of risk posed by unsecured wireless networks to data loss or corruption.
The survey also revealed that many of the largest retail and transportation corporations had upgraded technologies in place to protect access points with stronger encryption protocols.
"Transportation and retail were head and shoulders above the other industries in securing wireless networks and room for improvement in other industries was more apparent," added Richard
Rushing, chief security officer, AirDefense.
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