Bluetooth is now the most common wire replacement technology in the world – poses a similar threat to the integrity of corporate data as other wireless technologies, collectively known as Wi-Fi. So warns Karl Feilder, President and CEO of Red-M, a provider of wireless intrusion detection and management products.
"Most people associate Bluetooth with mobile phones because that’s where the technology grew up," says Feilder. "In fact Bluetooth is not only embedded in every mobile phone today, it is now also embedded in almost every laptop and PDA. It is a more prevalent wireless technology than Wi-Fi and poses the same high level of threat to networks and data."
All data networks need to be protected from the security risks introduced by wireless technology because it circumvents existing security measures, it is claimed. Once the technology is in the organisation it forms a bridge to the network, whether the network is wired or wireless. "If you’ve bought any new devices for your company in the last three years, chances are you’ve got wireless," Feilder says. "What’s more, recent Gartner research has shown that employees are increasingly installing their own inexpensive DIY wireless access points that IT departments can’t see unless they’re employing specific wireless security measures. Everyone should be monitoring for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth activity around their networks."
UK-based Cambridge Silicon Radio, which has 42pc of the Bluetooth market share, last month announced that it had shipped 30 million Bluetooth chips so far this year. Feilder expects that Bluetooth will increasingly be embedded in many more products. "There are lots of companies developing Bluetooth hardware. We can expect it to show up in consumer products such as audio players and games, and in PC peripherals such as printers and external CD-ROM drives. It’s an accessible technology that adds value to all sorts of products but, just like Wi-Fi, it also adds a new type of security threat that requires a different approach to securing networks and data."
The next iteration of wireless technology, WiMAX, is expected to go through initial testing and certification programs in 2005. Feilder says it will be at least a year before WiMAX is adopted and this would be the next point at which companies will have to re-consider their network security to ensure that they close the gaps WiMAX will introduce.
He recommends that companies watch developments in wireless technology closely to keep their security policies up to date as new threats emerge.
