AirDefense Receives Allowance for Third Patent Covering Core Technology Required for All Wireless Intrusion Prevention Solutions.

ATLANTA -- "Systems and Methods for Network Security" is the broadest WIPS patent allowed by the USPTO 

AirDefense, the innovator that launched the wireless LAN security market, today announced it has received an allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the company's third patent, which covers core technology fundamental to all wireless intrusion detection and prevention solutions. "Systems and Methods for Network Security" (US 20030236990), filed more than three years ago in June of 2002, describes the broad architecture of using wireless sensors and a server to detect attacks and policy violations for wireless networks - techniques inherent in any effective wireless intrusion prevention solution.

Included in the patent are proactive protection techniques such as wireless termination; alarm generation; determination of physical location; classification of authorized, unauthorized and rogue devices; and forensic data storage. These proactive protection techniques constitute the basis for the industry's leading and only Common Criteria-certified WIPS solution, AirDefense Enterprise(TM), which provides:

--Detection and accurate classification of wireless security threats, performance problems and policy violations, comparing real-time activity with historical data to minimize false positives

--Alarm generation, indicating the type and severity of the threat or multiple threats, including known and zero day threats

--Prevention of the threat or threats by jamming the wireless transmission to lock out the offending device or devices, or redirecting the access point and authorized agents to a different channel while continuing to scan for additional threats

--Mapping the physical location of the offending device or devices for removal

"Traditional wired security paradigms do not translate effectively into wireless networks," said Professor Fernando C. Colon Osorio, founder and director of the Wireless System Security Research Laboratory at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, performing cutting-edge research on distributed network intrusion detection and counter measure systems. "The allowed patents describe some novel and comprehensive methods that AirDefense has pioneered for wireless security. The architectural scope of the patent claims is broad and will encompass any meaningful wireless intrusion protection solution."

"As the pioneer in wireless LAN security, AirDefense opted early on to patent the broadest scope of its IP innovation rather than rush to achieve the faster issuance of more narrow patents," said Amit Sinha, chief technology officer of AirDefense.

The broader a patent's claims, the longer it takes to be processed because its impact on the associated industry will be that much greater than a patent with more narrow and restrictive claims, Sinha explained. "The first three AirDefense patents allowed by the USPTO comprehensively cover wireless intrusion protection and essentially constitute the 'P' in WIPS," he continued.

The two previously allowed AirDefense patents explicitly define all known and currently practiced methods of wireless termination - a fundamental requirement for intrusion protection, and real-time techniques to mitigate wireless attacks with honeypots. These patents further describe the core principles for all wireless intrusion protection systems, including:

--Multi-dimensional wireless intrusion detection using signature, protocol, policy and anomalous behavior analysis for minimal false positives and day zero attack detection

--Intelligent classification of authorized, unauthorized and rogue wireless devices

--Automatic, FCC-compliant AirTermination(TM) using all existing forms of wireless session containment

--Real-time attack avoidance using wireless honeypots and chaf frames

--Mapping the physical and logical location of wireless devices

--Wireless policy and compliance management

--Proactive wireless vulnerability assessment 

--Forensic data storage and incident analysis

--Threat index-based techniques for enhanced manageability

AirDefense, which has an installed base of more than 500 enterprise customers and a total of 20 patents pending, is currently shipping its seventh generation wireless intrusion protection system, AirDefense Enterprise 7.0. The system leverages the methods described in the three allowed patents to provide the most comprehensive, scalable and accurate wireless LAN monitoring and security solution available on the market today. With the ability to support 100,000 concurrent devices on a single high-end server, AirDefense Enterprise stores and manages more than 270 statistics per minute for every wireless device, yet it requires a mere 3kbs of bandwidth per sensor.

Unlike any other solution on the market, AirDefense Enterprise analyzes existing and day zero threats in real time against historical data to more accurately detect attacks and anomalous behavior originating inside or outside the organization. With the industry's most extensive event library, including more than 200 performance and security events, the system inherently mines this data to more accurately detect security and performance threats, thereby reducing productivity-draining false positives and enhancing manageability. The net result is more accurate detection with highly targeted incident response.

About AirDefense

AirDefense, the market leader in anywhere, anytime wireless security and monitoring, is trusted by more Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and high-security government agencies for enterprise wireless protection than any other wireless security provider. Ranked among Red Herring's Top 100 Private Companies in North America, AirDefense products provide the most advanced solutions for rogue wireless detection, policy enforcement and intrusion prevention, both inside and outside an organization's physical locations and wired networks. Common Criteria-certified, AirDefense enterprise-class products scale to support single offices as well as organizations with hundreds of locations around the globe. Founded in 2001, AirDefense is based in Alpharetta, GA, and serves hundreds of government agencies and blue chip corporations. For more information, please visit http://www.airdefense.net or call 770.663.8115.