Meru Networks sorts wireless eavesdroppers

Meru Networks has introduced RF Barrier, a 802.11-based technology proactively defending wireless networks against eavesdroppers and "parking lot" attackers, who attempt to record and observe network traffic from outside a building's perimeter in order to steal sensitive and valuable information.

Patent-pending RF Barrier uses wireless LAN technology to block the radio-frequency (RF) signals from the corporate network as they exit the building, without disrupting internal WLAN operation. This limits an attacker's ability to eavesdrop on data and perform offline analysis.

"Parking lot" attacks take advantage of wireless propagation (bleed-through) from a building out to a surrounding area. A number of these successful and costly "wardriving" attacks have been perpetrated, one of them involving the theft of millions of users' credit-card records.

RF Barrier is claimed to be the first solution using exclusively 802.11 technology to offer wireless perimeter protection:

• for organizations with regulatory or data privacy requirements, especially retailers, financial and government institutions, manufacturers and health-care organizations
• for mobile clients with legacy security mechanisms, such as handhelds and scanners equipped only with WEP or WPA/TKIP
• for modern WPA2- and EAP-based networks, where it helps prevent the exposure of potentially exploitable information such as user identities
• for providing physical wireless security in remote branch offices where no IT personnel are present to detect or stop an attack from outside the site's physical boundaries