AirFirewall™: True Wireless Intrusion Prevention

A traditional Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) doesn't begin to detect intruders or unauthorized devices until they are already on the network. There is no actual "prevention", as intruders must connect to a network before a counterattack is launched. Rogue mitigation or containment, the methods used by most WIPS products, amount to nothing more than a denial of service attack (DoS) against the intruder or unauthorized network.

Unfortunately, modern clients are able to quickly re-form the connection, letting the unauthorized network resume where it left off. Furthermore, launching a DoS attack against the foreign network may deny service to legitimate users as well. This is because the DoS attack makes use of 802.11's connection-termination protocol, sending Deauthentication or Disassociation messages to break the connection. The network is flooded with these termination messages, meaning air time is quickly expended.

Meru Networks AirFirewall™ uses patent-pending RF physical security to selectively block unauthorized network connections from proceeding, while leaving more air time free for legitimate users. The unauthorized network appears to vanish from the air, while both authorized and neighboring networks continue unabated.

AirFirewall™ provides the following features:

• Proactive: prevents unauthorized connections from establishing a connection, rather than reactively attempting to disconnect already-connected intruders
• Selective: only stops unauthorized traffic; authorized services continue unaffected
• Effective: Works for devices that do not respect Deauthentication messages (including numerous major consumer and enterprise clients, modified attack tools, and 802.11w-protected networks)
• Targeted: Can allow neighboring networks to exist without disruption
• Complete: Allows for no-wireless lockdown policy enforcement
• Flexible: May be turned on or off to allow for time-of-day policy enforcement