This month, AirTight Networks’ flagship product, SpectraGuard® Enterprise, achieved FIPS 140-2 validation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States and the Communications Security Establishment of Canada (CSEC).

 These standards and guidelines are issued by NIST as Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for use government-wide. NIST develops FIPS when there are compelling Federal government requirements such as for security and interoperability and there are no acceptable industry standards or solutions. See background information for more details.

Simultaneously, AirTight’s SpectraGuard Server passed TIC tests for inclusion on the DISA UC APL. The DISA UC APL is the single consolidate list of products that have completed interoperability (IO) and information assurance (IA) certification. Use of the DoD UC APL allows DoD Components to purchase and operate UC systems over all DoD network infrastructures.

AirTight’s products are deployed worldwide in many of the most security sensitive United States government and defense organizations to assure security and compliance with requirements such as DoD 8420.01, FISMA and guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Because AirTight products are always kept up-to-date with certifications such as FIPS 140-2, Common Criteria and DISA; government and defense agencies can take advantage of the powerful wireless security technology provided by AirTight.

Della Lowe 802.11n, Compliance, DISA UC APL, Federal Government, FIPS 140-2, Wireless security, WLAN networks 802.11n, DISA, FIPS, WIPS, Wireless Intrusion Prevention, Wireless security

The year 2010 witnessed continued growth in the enterprise WiFi deployments. The growth was fueled by the latest 802.11n revision to WiFi technology in the late 2009 and ready availability of WiFi in most consumer electronic devices launched in 2010, including the smart phones, printers, scanners, cameras, tablets, TVs, etc. The year 2010 also witnessed popularity of the specialized WiFi centric devices, such as MiFi.

However, the year 2010 also has some major WiFi security revelations/incidents in its kitty, which re-emphasize the continued need for adoption of the best practices for secure Wi-Fi deployment/usage. Here is the run-down on significant WiFi insecurity events which we witnessed in 2010:

• Windows 7 virtual WiFi can turn a machine into a soft Rogue, which took Rogue AP thinking to a new level beyond the commercially available AP hardware.

• Insecurity exposed due to MiFi like devices after the WiFi malfunction was experienced at two major trade shows in 2010 due to these devices – the first one was Google’s first public demo of Google TV and second was iPhone 4 launch at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Though this manifested as performance problem, it did show how easy it had become to set up personal HoneyPot AP or Hotspot AP on enterprise premises. Read more…

Ajay Gupta Wireless security 802.11n, 802.1x, CSI, Firesheep, Hole196, honeypot, Hotspot, iPhone, MiFi, Rogue AP, Soft AP, WiFi, WiFi attacker, WiFi consumerization, WiFi hotspot, WiFi security, Windows 7, WPA, WPA2

Finally the news that everybody in the WiFi world has been waiting for! Exactly six years after the 802.11n task group was formed, 802.11n got the final ratification as IEEE standard last Friday.

It has also been reported that 802.11w (protection for 802.11 management frames) was also approved as a standard in the IEEE Standards Board meeting.

If you are now looking forward to rolling out a fresh 802.11n deployment or migrating parts of your WLAN to 802.11n, you may want to look at this informative white paper 802.11n The Good The Bad The Ugly: Will You Be Ready? and watch the archived webinar 802.11n deployment checklist — what you need to know before you start by Sri Sundaralingam and Lisa Phifer.

Kaustubh Phanse 802.11n 802.11n, WiFi

Early 802.11b APs used to have 1 antenna on them, which later became 2 in the 802.11g/a era, which now have become 3 or 6 in the current 802.11n era. So why do number of antennas keep changing as WLAN technology advances to every next generation.

Read more…

Hemant Chaskar 802.11n, Wireless gadgets 802.11n, diversity, MIMO, multipath, smart antenna

Another article in the series by Joanie Wexler.

“There are several ways to scan your 802.11n air environment for nasty goings-on. At a glance, the options seem pretty straightforward. However, you need to look carefully under the hood to draw a true apples-to-apples comparison of the accuracy and cost of the various offerings.”

http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/wireless/2009/033009wireless1.html?page=1

Mike Baglietto 802.11n, Wireless security, WLAN planning 802.11n