Tech Terminology Demystified – WIPS

WIPS stands for ‘Wireless Intrusion Prevention System’.  WIPS helps in identifying unauthorized (‘rogue’) access points in an organization and taking appropriate countermeasures against the rouge devices. In conventional WIPS devices, the detection of rogue devices was handled by comparing the MAC addresses of devices present in the LAN with the authorized list of MAC addresses. However, hackers were intelligent enough to circumvent this through MAC spoofing. Newer technology in WIPS now enables identification of rogue access points through comparison of unique signatures emitted from the wireless devices with the list of authorized signatures. WIPS is not only essential in a WLAN setup but is necessary even in a wired LAN environment. An internal rogue access point may connect to the wired LAN and act as a gateway for a hacker who need not be physically present inside the organization’s premises. WIPS, therefore, is an essential weapon in the armory of an organization to protect its information assets.