Fergie's Tech Blog

N.Y. County Throws Cold Water on Hot Spots

Dibya Sarkar writes on FCW.com:

Westchester County, N.Y., has enacted what may be the first law in the nation requiring Internet cafes and other similar commercial entities to secure their wireless networks to prevent identity theft and other computer fraud.

The law, which goes into effect 180 days from today, requires commercial businesses that store, use or maintain personal information electronically – such as a retail store that uses a wireless network to process credit card transactions – to take minimum security measures. County officials said the measures could be as simple as installing a network firewall, changing the system’s default service set identifier (SSID), or disabling SSID broadcasting with minimal effort and little to no additional cost.

posted by Fergie @ 4/20/2006 03:40:00 PM