Trusted Wireless Environment Framework secures WiFi networks

WatchGuard Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, and Robinson Distribution, South Africa distributor, today launched its new Trusted Wireless Environment Framework, a guiding resource businesses and solution providers can use to build WiFi services that offer market-leading performance, scalable management and verified, comprehensive security capabilities.

This new initiative seeks to upset the status quo in the wireless market, which has prioritised performance over security for far too long. Organisations that build Trusted Wireless Environments can enjoy the performance and scalability they need to run their business, while at the same time ensuring protection against today's most dangerous WiFi attacks.

"WiFi networks have always served as low-hanging fruit for cyber criminals looking to steal valuable information, primarily because vendors and businesses alike have made the mistake of looking at WiFi security capabilities as an added benefit, rather than a primary feature," said Ryan Orsi, director of product management at WatchGuard Technologies. "We're seeing a massive, industry-wide need to fundamentally re-evaluate what we expect from WiFi products, so we're advocating that businesses of every size, and even competing vendors, examine our framework for what it takes to build and operate a Trusted Wireless Environment. WatchGuard's cloud-based secure WiFi products are truly unique in that they offer both industry-leading performance and unrivalled protection against every known category of WiFi security threat, all delivered in a package that's easily managed and highly scalable."

Trusted Wireless Environments

WatchGuard's Trusted Wireless Environment framework helps organisations develop complete WiFi networks that are fast, easy to manage, and most importantly, secure. Organisations today are faced with the inherent responsibility of establishing Trusted Wireless Environments that protect their employees, their customers, and their intellectual property from hackers who can easily exploit the weak or non-existent security of traditional WiFi networks. Some chose to tackle this effort in-house; however, many small to midsize businesses and organisations elect to outsource their IT, including their WiFi, to a trusted partner, which puts the responsibility for protecting that organisation on the VAR, MSP, or MSSP serving that client.

The three core pillars of a Trusted Wireless Environment include:

1. Market-leading performance: Businesses should never be forced to compromise security in favour of achieving the level of WiFi performance required to support user connections and client density within their wireless environments.
2. Scalable management: With easy set-up and management, businesses should be able control their entire wireless network, regardless of size or complexity, from a single interface and execute key processes to safeguard the environment and its users.
3. Verified comprehensive security: Many vendors operate under a haze of ambiguity when it comes to advertising security capabilities offered by their WiFi solutions. Businesses need proof that their security solution can provide automatic protection from the six known WiFi threat categories, allow legitimate external access points (APs) to operate in the same airspace, and restrict users from connecting to unsanctioned WiFi access points.

Assessing the security capabilities of top WiFi solutions

According to new research from Miercom, a leading, independent product test centre, WatchGuard's cloud-managed secure WiFi solution is the only product on the market capable of automatically detecting and preventing every type of WiFi security threat.

These findings came from a new independent security assessment that examined four top WiFi products for their ability to effectively prevent the six major WiFi security threats: rogue access points, rogue clients, neighbouring APs, ad hoc networks, evil twin APs (those with spoofed SSIDs), and misconfigured APs. This is the first Miercom assessment to analyse WiFi products from a security perspective, illuminating significant issues with the built-in security of many wireless APs.

"Following our in-depth security assessment of competing wireless products, Miercom is pleased to award WatchGuard's cloud-managed AP420 WiFi solution with the Miercom Certified Secure accreditation for vastly superior performance in the detection and prevention of the top wireless security threats today," said Robert Smithers, CEO of Miercom. "It's clear that the performance comparisons we typically see for WiFi solutions are missing key security criteria that could help customers make more well-informed buying decisions, so we believe the results of this never-before-done test speak to a critical need within the industry to reassess traditional WiFi products from a security perspective."

Miercom's independent assessment determined that WatchGuard was the only WiFi vendor able to automatically detect and prevent all six wireless attack categories in just seconds, while maintaining performance.

"WiFi is an incredibly well-known and mature product category, and since most vendors offer highly similar offerings, it has become increasingly challenging for organisations like ours to meaningfully differentiate in the wireless services arena," said Kevin Willette, CEO at Verus. "WatchGuard's cloud-managed secure WiFi products add a new dimension to our WiFi services, allowing us to educate customers about unnecessary tradeoff between WiFi performance and security found in other products, and offer them a solution that eliminates that compromise. With the Trusted Wireless Environment Framework, we can bring clarity to previously ambiguous conversations about WiFi security capabilities, and build wireless networks for customers that are not only fast, but safe and secure as well."

In order to begin building Trusted Wireless Environments with WatchGuard's secure wireless solutions, VARs and MSPs can purchase secure WiFi or total WiFi packages today. For more information about the need for greater security in the wireless market, download the full Miercom report here.