Pentagon prohibits wireless

[Guus]

Given the exploitable vulnerabilities inherent in current wireless products and technologies and the interdependence of Defense and Pentagon networks, it is essential and expected that all tenants will strictly adhere to this policy (...)

This article (NetworkWorldFusion) reports that the Pentagon has prohibited the use of most wireless applications, citing security reasons.

[mmelby]

I dont blame them. Considering that you can crack WEP with several available programs it make wireless a major security issue. We run wireless here but we run VPN inside the wireless. Then we use a propriatary WEP from Proxim that makes it secure.

[t2k2]

Yeah, I think it was a smart move. They should at least wait until that study on Wireless Hacking is done that I read about (someone posted it in one of the forums here). Maybe they will be able to come up with better defense measures after monitoring the people hacking their dummy network.

[kadeng]

A smart move!
Wonder if the Dutch government people are aware of the risks?

[Tedob1]

Yeah! and who said these guys were a bunch of morons?


(oops! that was me!!)

[roswell1329]

This probably came down in response to several Pentagon aides who noticed "lots of goofy chalk graffiti" all over the campus on their lunch hour.

[doktorf00bar]

You'd have to be a true nutter to warchalk the pentagon.
Who else is up for it????

[DarkeMaster]

I was on the team as the director of Infrastructure for marchFirst Inc., that worked with the 3Com folks on a $60 million dollar joint venture initiative to create and develop the 802.11b wireless standard. We created the very first five wireless applications that were ever developed..I have been telling people for months that this would occur and everyone told me I was out of my mind...Now I can say.....I TOLD YA SO...

With what I know about wireless, I would not trust it as far as I can see...It's great for point to point between buildings on a secure campus if the data being transferred is not priviledged but it is a pipe dream to contend it will ever be the big saving grace that the developers hoped (and touted) it would ever be...I say the guys at the Pentagon have made a sound decision and hopefully it will spread through the rest of the governmental agencies like wildfire...Cudo's to the Brass..

DarkeMaster

[The Old Man]

Yeah, 60million here, 2billion there, it all adds up after while. Seriously, what DM said about close point2point in a secure setting limited to lunch schedules and such is accurate. It's when you get in the outback and don't want to use local hardlines that wireless can be usefull but only if you protect the message contents with point2point encryption sufficient for the value life of the info. The big rub, as i see it, is the megabucks spent to develop the wireless technology, buy warehouses full of equipment, use up personnel time and TDY expenses for years, and then see the lack of imagination at the end of the project funding to actually make it functional for the "worker-bees". Of course, there will be another prospectus from the same, or another, contractor for another 60million to overcome the problems encountered in the first effort..........