Encryption fears over new wireless standard
Thu, 22 Oct 2009
A new standard will make it easier for wireless devices to connect to one another, it has been claimed, potentially improving mobile working options.
Wi-Fi Direct (WD) - a new specification being worked on by the Wi-Fi Alliance – is designed to allow WD-enabled devices to create peer-to-peer connections with each other on an ad-hoc basis.
However, despite the reduced hassle and complications users may benefit from, concerns have been raised over the security of this form of connection - known in the industry as 'tunnelling'.
John Dunne, the editor of Techworld magazine, said: "Wi-Fi is a bit of a compromise in terms of security, not because there are ways of securing it, but because it can be quite technically difficult to understand what it's doing when it's making a connection."
He explained that, with WD making it easier than ever for users to cross the airwaves and mingle their devices, there is a danger that users will become lax on security.
Mr Dunne claimed that if a link is to be set up between any two devices in any context, it has to be encrypted.
"Breaking and making encryption is what computers were invented to do and still, 70 years later, we don't use it very often, he added.
Fortify Software also warned this week that the WD standard poses a security threat to companies with Wi-Fi networks.
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