The use of wireless LANs has many advantages when compared to wired networks. For example, they allow employees to access important information via different mobile devices such as laptops and smart phones from anywhere within the organization, supporting their efficiency and productivity. Despite those advantages, many organizations are reluctant to invest in a wireless network infrastructure, as existing solutions are difficult to secure and complex to manage.
The most important aspect with the deployment of wireless networks is to make sure that the chosen solution fits seamlessly into the infrastructure in place, especially with firewalls and other security systems in mind. Otherwise, a company would make itself extremely vulnerable, because wireless networks don’t stop at the company’s gates. The list of possible attack scenarios is long, ranging from unauthorized connections with neighboring access points, simple electronic eavesdropping on insufficiently encrypted wireless signals through to denial-of-service attacks. All wireless LAN solutions used in the business environment must be able to respond to these problems.
The other important issue is manageability. As companies usually need more than one access point to offer wide-ranging wireless networking capabilities, each Wi-Fi solution needs to be checked for whether a high number of individual devices can be quickly and simply configured. In the recent past, so-called wireless LAN controller solutions have proven to do this job best. When taking this approach, the access points are no longer configured in the devices themselves, but in a central instance known as the wireless LAN controller. The controller authenticates the access points and gives them a suitable configuration. This enables the wireless LANs to be conveniently configured by a central location and any configuration changes simultaneously affect all access points.
Having had all of these requirements in mind, we came up with Astaro Wireless Security, which is an extension to Astaro Security Gateway, combining the comprehensive security of a UTM appliance with the benefits of a wireless LAN. Technically speaking, Astaro Wireless Security is a combination of a built-in wireless LAN controller that is integrated in Astaro Security Gateway and a new product line of Astaro access points, AP 10 and AP 30, which both support the latest wireless standard 802.11n and are suited for different office environments.
Astaro Wireless Security, which requires a valid wireless security subscription and will be available for the upcoming ASG version 7.508, protects all wireless clients and all wireless zones with the same high level of UTM security that is in place for devices connected via a wired LAN. The entire wireless traffic is forwarded to the Astaro Security Gateway, where it can be filtered for inappropriate content or scanned for viruses or other malicious software. Complete configuration, logging and troubleshooting of all wireless zones are performed within the Astaro Security Gateway; it even offers a central view of all connected wireless clients. And, as a special goody, setting up wireless guest Internet access is quite easy: a special wizard allows you to automatically create a wireless guest network with only a few clicks, providing Internet access to guests or visitors of your company without the risk of compromising the integrity of your internal network.
The Astaro access point appliances are now available. For more information, please click here.
You Can Learn More About the Astaro Internet Security Product Line By Going to www.FirewallShop.com/Astaro.
The original article/video can be found at Wireless Security without the Cutbacks!