It's not necessarily for security reasons that Blue Cross of
Idaho has a strict "no wireless" policy. And it's not really the
additional costs generated by a wireless network that keep that
policy in place. Actually, the reasoning behind Blue Cross's
anti-wireless policy is simple: They just don't need wireless.
"We have not found a real business need to support wireless,"
said Jan Marshall, Blue Cross of Idaho's manager of technical and
network services.
It's been that way for years. No wireless, no worries.
While Blue Cross of Idaho makes a conscious decision not to
deploy a wireless network and to bar the use of wireless within the
company walls, other companies may see benefits from it. For
example, a company where end users are not confined to desks and
bounce from room to room may want the seamless connectivity of
WLANs. For Blue Cross, however, the cost and potential security
risks don't make a WLAN a worthwhile venture, Marshall said.
But a recent audit found that in order to enforce the
no-wireless policy in its three buildings, Blue Cross of Idaho
needed something that would monitor the wireless spectrum 24/7.
Essentially, the auditors determined that a no-wireless policy was
worthless if it was only on paper.
"The auditors said, 'You have a no-wireless policy. How are you
enforcing that?'" Marshall said.
At the auditors' suggestion, Blue Cross of Idaho deployed a
wireless threat detection and prevention system. The product they
settled on was RFprotect Distributed from Network Chemistry, which
ensures that no wireless access points or other devices are on the
network.
But wrapping in RFprotect created some interesting conundrums.
First, Blue Cross of Idaho had to make sure they weren't shutting
down neighbouring buildings' wireless networks, Marshall said. The
Starbucks nearby certainly "wouldn't appreciate that."
Marshall stressed that RFprotect is not a jammer or blocker, but
instead it lets his team see what wireless devices are popping up
on the network and track them to a specific location.
Being able to track the location of a wireless network has made
for an interesting game within Blue Cross of Idaho. Since a number
of users have PDAs with wireless settings, some have had a few
laughs tracking the whereabouts of those users within the building
– kind of a Big Brother situation. Marshall said it's all in
fun.
And if someone came in with a laptop or PDA and wanted to hop
onto Starbucks' hot spot, the user wouldn't be able to see it from
inside Blue Cross' walls.
"We have to have a secure network for keeping outside people
from getting into it for whatever reason," Marshall said, adding
that Blue Cross of Idaho must comply with HIPAA regulations because
it handles medical billing. "A hard-wired network contained within
the walls of the company is just more secure."
So far, Marshall said, no real wireless threats have been found
since RFprotect was deployed. No one has tried to set up rogue
access. In some instances, however, visiting vendors and other
guests have had their wireless cards enabled. Marshall said it
gives a little peace of mind to know what is on the network and
when.
"This was all a proactive project to make sure we don't have any
problems going forward," he said.
This article originally appeared on
SearchNetworking.com.