Guidelines for Securing Wireless Local Area Networks (NIST Special Publication 800-153) recommends that critical information be protected by integrating security into every step of the WLAN system development process.
While WLANs can improve productivity through greater employee mobility, they can add an additional security challenge. WLANs often have weaker configurations and authentication processes that make them vulnerable for attackers to penetrate and gain access to sensitive information, NIST noted.
WLAN security depends upon how well all of its components, including client devices and wireless switches, are secured. The new guidelines provides recommendations to improve security in such areas as standardizing WLAN security configurations, including configuration design, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance, and selecting monitoring tools.
The recommendations included in SP 800-153 are applicable for the protection of unclassified wireless networks and unclassified facilities that are within range of unclassified wireless networks.
For a guide to additional NIST publications on computer security, including wireless security, see the Computer Security Resource Center list at the NIST website.