Enterprise Wireless LAN Security & WLAN Monitoring

Press Releases

AirDefense Delivers Industry’s most comprehensive,
scalable Wireless Security Platform

AirDefense Enterprise 7.0 supports up to 300,000 devices per server and analyzes 200+ security and performance events in context to minimize false positives and respond to true threats automatically

Atlanta, GA- December 12, 2005 - AirDefense, the innovator that launched the wireless LAN security market, today delivers another industry first with the release of AirDefense Enterprise 7.0, the most comprehensive, scalable performance and protection solution for wireless networks. Unlike any other solution on the market, AirDefense Enterprise 7.0 analyzes existing and day zero threats in real time against historical data to more accurately detect threats and anomalous behavior originating inside or outside the organization. The system automatically responds to threats according to appropriate business process and compliance requirements on both wireless and wired networks, making AirDefense Enterprise the industry’s most secure and cost-effective wireless intrusion prevention and troubleshooting solution.
“Wireless intrusion is always a matter of when, not if, so organizations need to be prepared,” said John Girard, vice president and research director, Gartner. “Until now, the challenge has been to address wireless security concerns without diminishing network performance. By evaluating potential threats in context and leveraging historical data, enterprises can protect their networks without having to overact every time the system detects something unusual.”

Enterprise-wide Threat Assessment and Automated Response
This next-generation wireless protection platform offers the industry’s most extensive event library, including more than 200 performance and security events – 50 percent more than that of the next leading competitor. And AirDefense Enterprise extends integration with AirDefense Personal, the industry’s first end-point security solution, for uninterrupted protection for all mobile employees and their enterprise wireless assets, regardless of location – at work, home, airports or other wireless hotspots. Policy profiles are defined centrally on AirDefense Enterprise and automatically downloaded to each mobile user. If threats are discovered, AirDefense Personal notifies the user and sends the alerts to AirDefense Enterprise for central reporting and notification. This unique solution allows the network administrator to enforce corporate policies and provide complete protection for the mobile workforce, regardless of location.

“AirDefense Enterprise is an important security and troubleshooting solution for us because, in the healthcare environment, mission-critical business conducted over the wireless network can mean the difference between life and death,” explained Brian Brindle, senior network engineer for Carilion Health System. “Last year around the holidays, we noticed an increase in network interference and connectivity challenges because of a significant number of new devices trying to connect. AirDefense Enterprise immediately helped us determine that this surge in rogue access points was the result of doctors, patients and their visitors using unapproved wireless devices they received as gifts. Now, with AirDefense Enterprise 7.0, we will be able to automatically detect, analyze and terminate these new devices or update them to comply with our policies before they can create problems on our network this holiday season.”

Storing and managing more than 270 data points per minute per connection for each wireless device, AirDefense Enterprise is self-learning and inherently mines this data to more accurately detect security and performance threats, thereby reducing productivity-draining false positives. The net result is more accurate detection with highly targeted incident response. The system’s unique RF Rewind™ feature also enables organizations to extract relevant historical data at any time for advanced troubleshooting. This data can be stored for months or years and may be used for advanced compliance reporting for regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), DoD 8100.2, GLBA, HIPAA and Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards, such as VISA CISP.

Scalability and Performance with Lowest Total Cost of Ownership
As the deployment of enterprise wireless networks escalates, most security solutions are not equipped to keep up with network demand and are forced to drop traffic when volumes are too high. AirDefense uses patent-pending optimization algorithms to reduce the amount of wired bandwidth required to less than 3 Kbps, while providing full-fidelity protection of the wireless network. As a result, AirDefense Enterprise is able to manage thousands of sensors and more than 300,000 devices on a single server, so it can support even the largest global deployments, today and for years to come.

Easy to Use and Certified at Highest Security Levels
AirDefense is the only wireless LAN security provider to receive stringent Common Criteria certification and it uses FIPS compliant cryptography, ensuring our clients benefit from the highest levels of security. AirDefense Enterprise distills a vast amount of complex data into easy-to-use information by offering a series of dashboards and wizards that help administrators throughout the organization intuitively resolve security and performance problems. The domain- or role-based partitioning capability also enables appropriate personnel across the enterprise – in different divisions, locations, as well as outsourced managed security service providers – to easily access valuable security, performance and policy compliance information and reporting relevant to them, how and when they need it.
Even those institutions not currently supporting wireless are at risk because the technology can invade the enterprise without notice through any number of new devices, such as laptops and printers. For institutions with a policy of no wireless deployment, AirDefense Enterprise introduces sensor-less rogue detection by scanning the wired network. This capability supplements AirDefense’s existing patent-pending rogue detection techniques, and when used in conjunction with sensors, it provides data correlation between the wired and wireless networks for the most accurate rogue detection.
“Most companies have spent millions of dollars to secure their physical locations and wired networks, but if they haven’t addressed wireless security, they’re basically leaving the back door wide open,” explained Anil Khatod, president and CEO of AirDefense, ranked among Red Herring’s Top 100 Private Companies in North America. “AirDefense continues to lead innovation in the wireless security industry to help organizations effectively protect their wireless networks as well as the significant investments they’ve already made in their physical and wired network security.”

About AirDefense
AirDefense, the market leader in anywhere, anytime wireless security and monitoring, is trusted by more Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and high-security government agencies for enterprise wireless protection. Ranked among Red Herring’s Top 100 Private Companies in North America, AirDefense products provide the most advanced solutions for rogue wireless detection, policy enforcement and intrusion prevention, both inside and outside an organization’s physical locations and wired networks. Common Criteria-certified, AirDefense enterprise-class products scale to support single offices as well as organizations with hundreds of locations around the globe. Founded in 2001, AirDefense is based in Alpharetta, GA, and serves hundreds of government agencies and blue chip corporations. For more information, please visit http://www.airdefense.net or call 770.663.8115.

AirDefense Contact:
Bill Keeler/Liz Serotte
Schwartz Communications
781 684-0770
airdefense@schwartz-pr.com