Aust security experts warn of new hacking target - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Aust security experts warn of new hacking target

By Jeanne-Vida Douglas, ZDNet Australia
December 13, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Aust-security-experts-warn-of-new-hacking-target/0,130061791,120270671,00.htm

While the security risk posed by poorly encrypted, or unprotected, wireless local area networks (WLANs) are widely known, security experts are warning of potential leaks from a new source - wireless LAN bridges.

According to Ross Chiswell, CEO of wireless networking reseller Integrity Data Systems, companies who have been careful to protect their WLANs from attack may be at risk when using wireless bridges to transmit information between buildings.

"Some of the cheaper wireless bridges are still using the IEEE protocols, which are as easy to read as any other WLAN infrastructure," Chiswell said. "It doesn't make that much of a difference if there is a firewall at each end, because the traffic can still be intercepted".

However, not all security specialists agree, with Jason Edelstein, principal consultant at Sydney-based security outfit Sense of Security, pointing out that the uni-directional nature of such connections makes them more difficult to intercept than WLAN signals that tend to radiate from a single point.

"You really have to be in a direct line of the bridge signals to pick them up, so they are less dangerous than the WLAN signals which are broadcast over a broader area," Edelstein said.

Nonetheless Chiswell pointed out that poorly installed bridge will often overshoot the receiving antenna - and that radio signals tend to radiate in a teardrop shape rather than a straight line.

"Because of the shape of the signal you can pick it up like WLAN signals as long as you are in the vicinity," Chiswell said. "Realistically the only way to fully ensure the products is by using virtual private network technology to encrypt the data going over the bridge, or to use more expensive proprietary technology".