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New Law Requires Wi-Fi Security |
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Written by Jim Geier
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Saturday, 17 March 2007 |
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The City of White Plains in Westchester County in New York recently passed a law making it illegal for “any commercial business that stores, utilizes or otherwise maintains personal information electronically” that do not take necessary security precautions on their wireless networks to guard against accidental or deliberate use. This is likely the first law of this nature in the U.S. The law only requires minimal security measures and doesn’t require a specific type of security. In fact, press releases from the County state that acceptable security can be simply changing the default SSID or disabling SSID broadcasting. This level of security may keep people from inadvertently seeing the network in Windows, but it’s useless for keeping someone from finding and accessing the network. The law doesn’t apply to public hotspots, but hotspot owners are required to remind users (through signage) to turn on security, such as personal firewalls. If users don’t follow these rules, they are breaking the law. So, if you’re in White Plains using a hotspot and not using proper protection, watch out for the “Wi-Fi police!”
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