The Costs of Effective Security

Security has different types of costs that can both positively and negatively
affect your organization. Security used always to be considered
“negative” as most companies would say something like, “Oh no! We
can’t have a security audit, because that would make us appear as
though we are not secure! Just the mere thought of mentioning security
would make our customers think we are having problems!” However,
the world has changed, even more so since 9/11. Security is no longer
seen as a negative, but an essential positive that every company doing
business must have!

Customers have come to expect that any company doing business on
the Internet or with any type of wireless infrastructure must have certified
themselves as secure. There is just too much personal information
being transmitted over seemingly insecure channels on your network.
Wireless networks have all the same flaws as wired networks, except
that it is a well-known fact that most companies use neither the basic
safeguards nor the proper levels of encryption to ensure that information
is properly secure.

Wireless users are growing to represent an even greater number of
company departments doing business. Normal LAN cabling is limited
and can easily become damaged, forcing you to install new cabling at
great cost. WLANs don’t require you to maintain the physicality of your network infrastructure beyond the access point (server) and the mobile
workstation (client). With so much personal information being transmitted
wirelessly, it would literally bankrupt a business if it were to become
public knowledge that hackers could sit in proximity to the server and acquire items such as:


Social security numbers

Drivers’ licenses

Tax return forms

Bank account numbers/statements

Credit card numbers

The problem then becomes that you must convince your user base
(employees and customers) that your wireless network has security comparable
to that of your wired LAN. This means you must actually “prove”
the concept of WEP, so that your wireless systems are as private and
secure as your wired network. In order to accomplish this goal, it is important
to draw an effective comparison between your wired and wireless
worlds.