Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) have been deployed by many companies, but few law firms have adopted the technology. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of wireless LAN technology for law offices.
A wireless LAN uses radio frequencies instead of media such as copper or fiber. It provides real-time, wireless access to the local office applications, as well as to the Internet. Unlike the fixed, limited work locations of a standard LAN, a wireless LAN achieves full coverage throughout the entire local office and allows users the freedom of mobility. For instance, attorneys can carry their laptops with a wireless adapter card from their office to a conference room while staying connected to the LAN.
The main advantages of wireless LANs are convenience, ease of installation, practicality, and increased mobility within the enterprise. Users can move around the office without the inconvenience of disconnecting and reconnecting to a fixed port. Also, wireless LANs are easy to install: an entire network can be put together in a few days. Finally, wireless LANs may be installed where rewiring is impractical. Wireless LANs are beneficial for sites not conducive to LAN wiring because of building or budget limitations, such as older buildings, leased space, or temporary sites. A practical application of a wireless LAN might be a temporary, remote "office" for a trial or litigation. This office can move from building to building without worry of re-wiring and expensive setup costs. The litigation team could move the LAN to any location, power on the servers, workstations and wireless equipment and begin working.
The disadvantages common to all types of wireless LANs are the cost, transmission speed, connection distance, and security. About 40% of the total cost of a wired LAN is for cabling. Further, moving cables that are already in place costs approximately the same as a new installation. Wireless LANs eliminate the cost of cabling, but the wireless devices and the installation are more expensive than cabling alone. Since most buildings are already wired for communications, it is often difficult for firms to rationalize the cost. Speed is another disadvantage of the wireless LAN. Wireless devices are almost always slower than the same network using a wired configuration. Most office desktop PCs connect to the network at 10 or 100 MB, while a wireless laptop usually experiences connections of about 5 MB (anywhere from 3 MB to 11 MB). This speed should not hinder most law office applications, but the wireless system may appear slower at times. As you get farther from the wireless LAN device, the speed of the network decreases.
The last disadvantage of wireless LANs, of utmost concern to law offices, is their security vulnerability. Most wireless LANs use an optional encryption scheme called Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). Recent studies have discovered weaknesses in WEP encryption which allow unauthorized users the ability to reconstruct the WEP key used in wireless LANs. A sophisticated hacker with a laptop and a wireless network card could gain network access from a hallway or the office's parking lot. Until wireless LANs are secure, many law firms will have serious doubts about their use.
Although WEP has flaws, advances in the technology have decreased the chances of successful attacks. To combat attacks, wireless vendors have begun to use dynamic WEP keys that are frequently changed to limit exposure if a key is stolen; and they have integrated WEP with network logons so that wireless users need usernames and passwords. Utilizing dynamic WEP encryption keys for authenticated users and enabling frequent changes to the keys greatly diminish the chance of unauthorized access.
An even better security framework is being constructed for wireless networks. It is based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) standard. EAP, an IEEE standard proposed by Cisco, Microsoft and other organizations to the IEEE 802.1x committee, is an integral part of the 802.1x wireless solution. EAP enables wireless client adapter manufacturers and RADIUS server vendors to independently develop interoperable client side and server side security software. This solution is being deployed and is included in Cisco's Aironet wireless products.
In order to use the 802.1x and EAP security solution, you need an authentication server to authenticate users on the wireless LAN. Using 802.1x and EAP, a wireless client cannot gain access to the network until the user performs a network logon. When the user enters a username and password into a network logon dialog box, the client and an authentication server perform a mutual authentication, with the client authenticated by the supplied username and password. Because all information is protected from passive monitoring and other methods of attack, nothing is transmitted over the air in the clear. Currently, to achieve this security, you need to purchase a Cisco Secure Access Control Server which is quite expensive. When Microsoft releases its next server operating system (currently named .NET), it will be able to act as the authentication server and provide the strongest level of security available. Since Microsoft's .NET products are poised to be widely deployed throughout many networks regardless of network medium, this solution will significantly decrease the cost of the wireless solution.
Depending on the circumstances, a wireless LAN may be an option that law offices should explore. For a small firm that frequently changes office location (via leasing, renting, or other), a large firm expanding to a new unwired floor, or a firm where attorneys spend time traveling between their offices and different conference rooms, a wireless LAN should be considered. If an office is already wired and the firm has signed a multi-year lease, a wireless LAN would provide mobility, but at an added expense. Give some thought to a wireless LAN before cabling a new office. For intra-office mobility, or even office mobility, wireless is the way to go.
About our author...
James Dwyer is a Senior Technology Consultant for Kraft Kennedy & Lesser, Inc., based in San Francisco. The company offers a full range of technology services to law firms and corporate legal departments. Jim can be reached via e-mail at dwyer@KKL.com or at (415) 956-4000.