Extending existing applications for secure mobile use – how tough can that be?

Wireless Security for the Enterprise

by Stef Coetzee

Significant gains are being promised to businesses by extending the reach of an enterprise and providing wireless access to applications that were previously available only via internal LAN access or occasional dial-up by mobile field workers, telecommuters, and business partners. However, as with most technology advances, remote access via wireless networks also creates substantial security risks for those who are unprepared – whether using wide area wireless (provided by wireless carriers such as Orange, O2, Vodafone or T-Mobile) and/or wireless LANs (either installed and operated by an enterprise or in hot-spots).

When enterprises add mobile access via wireless networks (Wireless LAN or Wireless WAN (Wide-Area Networks) to their remote access methods, user authentication and data security become significantly more complex and challenging than they are on wired or tethered networks. Data traversing a wireless environment is vulnerable to corruption, eavesdropping, and unauthorized access. Traditional VPN (Virtual Private Network) technologies such as IPSec and SSL may seem to solve the security problems, but they are not designed to work over wireless networks. They are slow and crash frequently – if they work at all.

This talk takes a look at the issues against a backdrop of industry trends and business drivers. It explores traditional approaches to offering secure remote access solutions and evaluates them against the criteria for a mobile, secure, remote access solution that provides strong encryption and industrial-strength security specifically for mobile workers using wireless networks. It will look at the balance between a user-transparent solution that does not deomand user training, distraction or intervention together with the facilities required to lower IT support and management costs. It will conclude with a shopping-list of required features needed to offer a mobile VPN that is optimised for WWAN, WLAN or any other IP-based network mobile workers use for remote access, including home networks, dial-up, and public and private hotspots.