Laptops Become IT Trojan Horses

The rise and proliferation of mobile workforces, laptop-equipped fieldworkers and telecommuters are creating new challenges for IT security managers. The struggle to protect networks from external threats has been the order of the day, according to a story that recently appeared on the TechWeb news page entitled Peer-Based Security Aims To Protect LANs From Insiders. However, mobile workers and their portable PCs are inadvertently introducing all manner of bugs, viruses and malicious apps into the corporate LAN. According to Steve Ocepek, one security expert reached in the story, the concept of peer-based security may be the key to these threats presented by mobile computers.

Peer-based security technology, which is now being supplied by a number of vendors, detects and identifies any improper behavior on the part of devices and PCs that are connected to a network and renders them useless.

"Rather than the timeworn approach of firewalls, anti-virus software, and patches, all defending against internet incursions, peer-based LAN security, [is] beginning to get traction," writes the author of the story W. David Gardner.

Ocepek delivered an address on the topic of peer-based LAN security at the 2nd Annual Information Technology Security Conference held last week in San Francisco.

To read the full story, visit: http://www.networkingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=19202035.