WhiteGold adds AirTight wireless security

Security distributor WhiteGold Solutions has signed on US-based wireless security and intrusion prevention system vendor AirTight Networks.

Dominic Whitehand, managing director at WhiteGold, said the distributor had signed AirTight Networks in the latter's first such deal in Australia.

"We want to get into the wireless arena," he said.

Whitehand said emerging threats increasingly targeted wireless networking weaknesses. AirTight Networks produced Wi-Fi intrusion prevention systems and other security products targeting small, medium and large businesses, he said.

Intrusion prevention was tipped to take over from intrusion detection as a popular security solution, he said.

"People want to stop the threats rather than just detect them," Whitehand said.

AirTight's offerings would be available to WhiteGold resellers, he said.

Whitehand said AirTight's SpectraGuard Enterprise products targeted network holes caused by incorrectly configured or rogue Access Points and client misassociation problems.

He said clients could accidentally get accessed by another person's or businesses' network in a building shared by more than one wirelessly networked organisation, for example.

Laptops using default Windows settings would try to seek out and attach themselves to any wireless network in the area, Whitehand pointed out.

As regulation and privacy issues came to the fore, businesses would have to work harder to protect the information they stored using IT infrastructure, Whitehand said.

Brad Taylor, US-based vice-president of worldwide sales at AirTight, said the vendor was investing in local staff to support the channel and its customers.

"Security threats from rogue or 'evil twin' Access Points and denial of service attacks are on the rise in Australia, with traditional firewalls unable to detect or prevent them," Taylor claimed.

AirTight makes and sells an integrated suite of WLAN planning, management, security and location services.

SpectraGuard Enterprise and SpectraGuard Sentry provided an independent security overlay, were compatible with all vendors’ Wi-Fi devices and delivered protection without the need to replace existing access points, AirTight claimed in a statement.