Bob Brewin

As expected, Cisco Systems Inc. has beefed up security for its wireless LAN product line to help prevent hackers from hijacking a user's identity during an authentication session.

Microsoft Corp. this week launched its much-anticipated line of home wireless LAN networking products, offering built-in setup software and vital security features turned on -- but with above-market prices.

Major wireless LAN hardware manufacturers have joined forces to beef up security for 802.11b wireless LAN products through a project dubbed Safe Secure Networks

Hobbyist wireless LAN sniffers are now taking their war-driving skills to the air, detecting hundreds of WLAN access points during short trips in private planes cruising at altitudes between 1,500 and 2,500 feet. A Perth, Australia-based "war flier" recently managed to pick up e-mails and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) conversations from an altitude of 1,500 feet.

Blade servers just won a heavyweight endorsement. IBM Corp. and Intel Corp. have announced a plan to jointly design and develop blade servers for a wide range of enterprise applications, with the first product announcement from the partnership due within a month.

There's war-driving, war-flying, war-walking and war-jamming. "Sniffing" for 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, wireless LAN access points (AP) seems to be gaining popularity among a small niche of hobbyists, who also enjoy posting news of their exploits online.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc. (IEEE) has approved the draft of a new wireless LAN standard

Amateur wireless LAN sniffers detected hundreds and potentially thousands of insecure business and home industry-standard wireless LANs in North America and Europe during the past week in a loosely organized electronic scavenger hunt dubbed the "Worldwide Wardrive."