Sharp Labs selects WiMetrics' WiSentry to protect corporate network; Sharp Labs uses WiSentry to monitor and secure its wireless Lan 24 X 7.

WiMetrics Corporation, an industry leader in wireless LAN monitoring and intrusion protection products, has announced that Sharp Labs of America in Camas, Washington, has deployed WiMetrics' WiSentry software system to protect its facility from potentially harmful intrusions by unauthorized 802.11-based devices.

The wireless LAN at Sharp Labs is used by employees to roam between their desks, labs, and conference rooms while staying connected to important information they need to do their jobs. Since Sharp Labs is a research and development arm for Sharp Electronics, there was significant concern regarding security with having a wireless LAN at the facility. "We had no way of knowing who had access to the corporate network or how to keep outsiders from entering the network," explained John Walker, Electronics Technician, Certified Computer Technician and Wireless Network Administrator for Sharp Labs.

Sharp turned to WiMetrics' WiSentry to provide 24 x 7 monitoring of their wireless network. Through its centralized network administrator display, Sharp is able to see an up-to-the-second view of all wireless network devices, showing both authorized devices and those devices not belonging to the network as a result of coming within range of the access point. Intruding devices are flagged and denied access based on configurations parameters. Sharp Labs is able to quickly authorize wireless devices using the patent-pending technology for creating and storing a unique, "identity profile" for each authorized wireless devices. This profile is automatically cross-checked by the system each time the device requests access to the wired network. This eliminates common intrusion techniques, such as MAC address spoofing.

Before Sharp Labs installed WiSentry, they used MAC Address Control Lists set up on each wireless access point to watch the network. They developed their own internal Web-based application to monitor the IP addresses of each access point, setting the application to refresh the Web page every one minute. This was a tedious and ineffective process. "With WiSentry, it identifies every user trying to connect, it watches for intruders, and I can control the access of any user, whether they are authorized or unauthorized from the WiSentry Administrator Console with one click of the mouse," said Walker. "I wish this was in place a long time ago," he continued. Sharp was also impressed with the ease of installation. Since there is no client code or proprietary hardware required, the installation of the software was a relatively painless process.

Sharp was tracking seventy users connecting to the corporate network wirelessly but after they installed WiSentry they discovered they had an additional fifty unknown wireless devices. These fifty devices were blocked access by WiSentry until they could be identified and granted authorization to the corporate network.

"My main interest in the WiSentry product is to leverage its acceptance at other Sharp sites. Specifically, our site in Huntington Beach, California has several dozen developers who often travel between there and Camas, Washington," said Bill Longman, Manager MIS at Sharp Labs. "Putting this product in place will greatly improve the security and wireless LAN administration we now have at that facility," he added.

"We are delighted to help Sharp Labs monitor and protect their wireless network," said Mike O'Brien, CEO of WiMetrics. "Companies still seem to be delaying the 'official' deployment of wireless LANs. We believe this stems from IT organizations' discomfort with the lack of visibility and control of their wireless network. WiMetrics provides solutions that deliver that visibility and control, whether 24x7 Rogue AP Detection or continuous WLAN Monitoring."

WiMetrics Corporation is a provider of software-based wireless LAN monitoring and intrusion protection solutions. With its unique patent-pending process to monitor the wireless network its products can proactively protect companies from access by unknown wireless devices and can detect rogue access points. Our solutions optimize existing wired side security processes for user authentication and encryption and coexist with wireless security standards, like WEP, 802.1x, etc. to provide another layer of protection. Founded in 2001, the company is privately held and based in Issaquah, Washington.