One of the more entertaining things that I get to do on a semi-regular basis is see what other technology consultants are doing. Sometimes I get to say “Huh, that’s cool.” Other times I’m left cocking my head to the side like the cartoon dog in the old RCA logo.
Here’s the scene: A small medical office in a densely packed medical office park. The doctor uses tablet PC’s to enter data into an EMR. The wireless access point is a Cisco Aeronet with multiple antennas. Clearly care was taken with the design of this system. Excellent RF coverage of the entire office space was present.
MAC address filtering was even implemented to ensure that only authorized computers could talk to the wireless network.
So, what’s wrong with this picture? The wireless network used no encryption whatsoever.
That’s right: the implementer took the time to ensure that only authorized machines could transmit, but made no effort to ensure that eavesdroppers cannot intercept the data being broadcast.
In a medical office.
I admit that that configuration had me a little cross-eyed. Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to correct.