Shimon Systems, a California startup, is harnessing biometrics to provide security for WiFi networks. Biometric security measures have become popular in both industry and society, and the technology is now used to authenticate and validate users as they access secure areas or draw money out of an ATM.
The good thing about Shimon's Bio-NetGuard is that it offers security for networks even if some of the security configurations have been mishandled, or the 802.11x authentication is not turned on. The system comes in a stand-alone device that features a Radius server and EAP that works with either external or built-in standard fingerprint readers. The price starts at $500 for 10 users, and can support up to 250 users. Note that the system should work with any WPA AP since the WPA standard already has an option to refer authentication to a Radius server. Shimon also offers a rather long list of APs and NICs with which it has successfully tested the product. The company says its device supports quite a few fingerprint scanners.
For more on Bio-NetGuard:
- see Shimon Systems' website
- see Peter Judge's Techworld report
- and Glenn Fleishman's comments