Organizations that have deployed wireless networks face security threats that are no different from those found in wired networks, according to a new survey.
Conducted by networking company 3Com, the study found that virus or worm intrusion was the security threat commonly faced by organizations that have implemented wireless networks. The survey polled 2,500 companies in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, and included both 3Com customers and non-customers from various sectors including manufacturing, education, finance and banking, and government.
Respondents in Malaysia were the most affected by such threats, where some 250 respondents indicated they have experienced viruses or worms in their wireless networks, the study found. Singapore-based businesses reported few or no security threats.
The survey findings "debunk the commonly-held belief that wireless networks are less secure than wired networks", said Peter Chai, 3Com's Asia-Pacific vice president and general manager.
"What's interesting is that some of these organizations did not face any security threats and have actually found that security of their networks either improved or remained unchanged when they moved to wireless," Chai said. "In many cases, the use of centrally-controlled wireless architecture may actually improve network security, due to its ability to block rogue access points and enforce better network admission controls."
According to the 3Com report, however, security was still cited as the most pressing concern in the deployment of wireless networks. Respondents were also concerned about reliability, speed and performance, and cost, the study found.
In an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia, Chai said the survey reflected that enterprises and their IT services providers have a good understanding of security and threats, and know how best to secure their network environment.
However, he warned that enterprises should not assume wireless networks are adequately secure in their "factory configuration". He added: "While little or nothing needs to be done at the core of the network, securing and managing access points is a critical measure to take."
More Indonesians run enterprise apps
While most companies were using their wireless platform for e-mail messaging or to access the Internet, the study revealed that respondents were also running enterprise applications such as salesforce automation, customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), on their wireless networks. This trend was particularly apparent among companies in Indonesia.
Nearly 40 percent of Indonesian companies were running CRM or ERP-type applications on their wireless networks, compared with less than 20 percent and 30 percent in Australia and Singapore, respectively.
Chai said this trend could be unique to Indonesia because respondents from the country have a greater mobile workforce. "It is [also] possible that, as an emerging market with less wired infrastructure in place, many organizations [in Indonesia] are choosing to take advantage of the flexibility that wireless networks can provide rather than incurring the additional cost and time of installing wired networks."
"Wireless networks today are as reliable and fast as wired networks, and are capable of supporting users [who access] CRM and ERP applications," he added.
According to the survey, Australia and Singapore boast the highest level of deployment of company-wide wireless networks at 20 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.