By Ethan Miller
Every time a person logs on to a public Wi-Fi access point, they are transmitting their login name and password over open airwaves, and often a credit card number as well, and sensitive business information.
Businesses are intrigued with the idea of Wi Fi blocking paint. In theory, it will keep your wireless in, and more importantly, keep others out. Radio wave blocking shields have been used in theaters for years. More than the fear that this paint contains lead has stirred the controversy.
Business is always looking for a way to keep corporate secrets a secret.
Keeping a network's susceptibility to malicious attacks as low as possible is an ongoing concern for many businesses. Cell phones, black berries, and wi fi are all at risk. Private residents only need to worry about neighbors or strangers who park outside th ir home and overload their network with spam and illegal downloads.
The best way people currently keep intruders out of their internet is by enabling WEP or WPA encryption on the network and by changing the password on the router, something very few people realize must be done.
EM-SEC currently sells laptop inserts and phone holsters with an electromagnetic shield, which restricts the detection of Wi-Fi signals. This is meant to deter laptop thieves.
Boyd, Vice President and Director of Technology for EM-SEC Technologies, LLC. -
"As hackers, identity thieves and even terrorists become more sophisticated in the methods they use to obtain information or inflict damage, this experiment confirmed EM-SEC Coating reduces the threat from electronic eavesdropping and blocks out electromagnetic interference for the protection of electronic data."
Now, SEC Technologies provides another option: wireless blocking paint. One coat of this paint "creates an electromagnetic fortress by preventing airborne hackers from intercepting signals."
Great for a business who leases an office in a building with several competing businesses, but does it work? Some theaters use this paint, but it doesn't stop cell signals. In fact, random tests on this product show that it reduces the flow of RF signals but does not stop them.
One problem is that you'd need to paint floors, ceiling, walls, and windows with a thick layer of paint that contains a metal if you want to stop all the leakage.
The EM-SEC Coating was initially developed to aid the U.S. Government and Military in shielding operation centers. "We have developed an innovative shielding system that cannot only be utilized by corporate offices, boardrooms, server and computer rooms and research and development laboratories to protect their digital assets from electronic eavesdropping, but it will also ensure the safe operation of wireless networks", said Wayne LeGrande, President and Chief Technical Officer, EM-SEC Technologies, LLC.
Businesses are not in a hurry to incorporate the new paint. Their fear is that cell phone and Wi Fi blocking paint will disrupt service and quickly drive the cases to the Federal court.
Should business worry? As recently as two years ago, surveys revealed that most Wi Fi networks used no encryption. Anyone with a laptop and Wi Fi card can intercept and read data packets sent and received by users. While most networks use encryption now, they use WEP, which is easily by hackers with readily downloadable "sniffing" tools, such as those used by "wardrivers."
Haven't heard the term? Wardrivers wander the streets looking for networks to join. Most are hobbyists or bandwidth seekers, but some are malicious.
Home improvement company Lowe's learned this the hard way. A Wi-Fi network was transmitting credit card and data from cashiers. Three college-age men in the parking lot of the Southfield, Michigan store broke it into the system and captured credit card information,. altering the software code used by Lowe's to process credit cards, and gained access to computers in six other stores. |
