Baltimore, MD- June 10, 2004 - The Spring Wi-Fi Planet Conference and Expo has become one of the definitive events of the Wi-Fi industry and a testing ground for attendees to challenge the strength of wireless security, noted AirDefense, the leader in 24x7 wireless security monitoring, who captured wireless data throughout the first day of the show. AirDefense data determined that wireless attacks are being adopted faster than ever before leaving organizations open to even more Wireless LAN (WLAN) breaches and attacks.

"Wi-Fi Planet is where vendors introduce the latest products, and where attendees test the latest attacks," said Richard Rushing chief security officer of AirDefense. "Typically it takes attack tools six to nine months after release before they are widely-used among hackers. You may see one or two devices running newer attacks, but today we detected eight different devices running Hotspotter, eight Airsnarfing tools and twelve soft APs. We can deduce that either people are writing better and more sophisticated tools, or the tools are becoming more portable since they now operate on multiple operating systems."

Hotspotter, released in May 2004, is a program that redirects probing stations to the hacker's laptop. Once associated, Hotspotter can be configured to run a command to scan the new victim's laptop. Airsnarf, launched at the end of 2003, is rogue AP that can steal usernames and passwords from public wireless hotspots. The concern is the captured usernames and passwords can then be misused at other hotspots of the same provider, leaving the original victims to pay the bill. Hardware versions of soft APs, released en masse in second quarter 2004, create connections to laptops acting as an access point. Once connected, the owner of the soft AP is given access to the unsuspecting victim.

In addition to these newer attacks, AirDefense detected and identified usage patterns, network bottlenecks and problematic stations and access points throughout the day, including:

A large focus at this year's Wi-Fi Planet is securing the WLAN. Rushing lead a discussion during the pre-conference sessions advising attendees how to build strategies to secure the enterprise against network attacks, intrusions and other security breaches.

"Wireless is entering into organizations regardless of IT's policy. Whether organizations embrace the convenience of wireless or not, they need to be aware of the threats wireless causes and defend their air space like any other corporate asset," Rushing implored during the session.

"While the numbers of attacks at different conferences may fluctuate," said Anil Khatod, president and CEO of AirDefense, "the message is clear - the simplicity of WLANs comes at the cost of security. WLANs provide significant productivity and mobility benefits to the enterprise, and the adoption of WLANs is inevitable. However, attackers are becoming better educated on the tools available to capture and exploit user data. Organizations must take note of these vulnerabilities in their networks and employ a wireless security policy, educate employee's and take the right steps to secure and monitor for conformance to the wireless security protocol."

AirDefense studied the wireless LAN traffic and identified 361 unique wireless devices throughout the day connecting to 64 access points (APs) and a mixture of ad hoc and soft APs. Although significantly lower in total number of devices than previous monitoring done by AirDefense at CTIA Wireless and Networld + Interop, the ratio of access points to wireless - based on the smaller attendance - is proportional.

About AirDefense, Inc.
AirDefense is the thought leader and innovator of wireless LAN security and operational support solutions. Founded in 2001, AirDefense pioneered the concept of 24x7 monitoring of the airwaves and now provides the most advanced solutions for rogue WLAN detection, policy enforcement, intrusion protection and monitoring the health of wireless LANs. As a key element of wireless LAN security, AirDefense complements wireless VPNs, encryption and authentication. Based on a secure appliance and remote sensors, AirDefense solutions scale to support single offices, corporate campuses or hundreds of locations. Blue chip companies and government agencies rely upon AirDefense solutions to secure and manage wireless LANs around the globe. For more information, go to www.airdefense.net or call 770.663.8115.

Media Contacts:
Heidi Litner
AirDefense, Inc.
770.663.8115 x 110
hlitner@airdefense.net

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