South African companies' infrastructure are predominantly fixed-line, despite the proliferation of wireless technology.
Riaan Leuschner, MD of Nology, importers of Billion broadband solutions, says the main stumbling block stopping local companies from establishing a wireless corporate environment is security risk. Companies fear their systems will be breached wirelessly and their information assets are at risk.
However, security challenges can be overcome, says Leuschner: “Today, there are a myriad security options available, tailor-made to most environments, be it large corporates or a small home office. The reality is we can harness the power that comes with wireless technology if we know how to protect this power.”
The IT industry has made great strides in virtual private networks (VPNs), Leuschner says. These provide both network authentication and encryption using IPsec or secure socket layer protection.
“Key to mobile VPNs' design is the ability to provide access solutions for users on the move and require secure access to information and applications over a variety of wired and wireless networks. With mobile VPNs, users roam easily and securely across IP-based networks and in and out of wireless coverage areas without losing application sessions or dropping the secure VPN session.”
Financial institutions tend to fortify their VPNs with a one-time password token, which offers an additional layer of authentication. “Each time a user logs on, he or she is not only asked for their username and password, but also the one-time password that is sent to them securely or generated via an issued dongle.
“Interestingly, while one-time password technology has been around for while - utilising a specific algorithm to generate the unique passwords has only recently been used on a full-time basis by e-commerce sites,” he concludes.
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