Wireless VPNs: Protecting the wireless wanderer

Employees sipping café Java over their wireless laptops may think a VPN makes them safe and secure. With careful configuration, there's some chance they're right

Interestingly, he adds, Internet Explorer is also published to users from the network, which allows Empire to control which websites are accessible to employees with company laptops-a list comprising little more than Empire's own site, plus Microsoft's and a support site. The result: an ever-lower likelihood of malware encounters, says Drasdis.

Meanwhile, at Fortune 50 insurance company MetLife, protecting against data leakage-especially in respect of client information-is of paramount importance when enabling remote wireless access, says Jesus Montano, assistant vice president of enterprise security. "The challenge is balancing people's access requirements with our overall security requirements, and then working with them to find ways of creating an effective solution without compromising security," he says.

For wireless access from airports and coffee outlets, he explains, these days that means access via VPN vendor Check Point, solely from MetLife-owned laptops, with log-ons protected by RSA "hard token"-based, two-factor authentication. In addition to the encryption built into the VPN, all the data on the laptop is protected, he adds.

"All wireless traffic is encrypted; the devices are encrypted and wrapped around with a firewall," stresses Montano. "We think we've addressed the most obvious pitfalls in remote access, and think we've got a robust, highly engineered solution."

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