Improving the security of radio frequency radiating devices on your network

By Doran Sullivan, Aruba’s federal vice president, company at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Federal and non-governmental IT teams have long been aware of the risk of blindness in radio frequency (RF) networks. Ultimately, unauthorized communication in a protected area can reveal staff movements and create channels for data breaches, such as how fitness trackers can unwillingly. Exposed physical movement From the military.

As the use of mobile and IoT devices explodes in both governments and the private sector that maintains them, the need for awareness of the radio frequency situation is increasing. These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that most devices use many or several different radio frequency technologies such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Most urgently, highly secure federal agencies rely on honor and reporting policies to limit the entry of RF beams without the ability to effectively track and manage RF beams on the network. He had to.

Integrated vulnerability mitigation solution for RF devices

Federal contractors can detect and identify radio transmitting devices to improve their overall security regime, while better identifying the people who use them and the physical areas in which they live throughout the network. An integrated solution is needed to protect against.

To create this integrated solution Aruba Wireless LAN Solution When Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager Can be integrated with Bastille Networks, To bridge the huge security gap created by RF transmitters. Federal IT agencies can now implement this integrated solution to establish radio frequency security policies based on real-time detection capabilities, while establishing automated alerts and enforcement policies.

Automation of the application of radio frequency fences

Bastille uses a passive software-defined wireless sensor array to detect cellular, Bluetooth, BLE and Wi-Fi devices and determine their exact location in real time. All RF emitters can be placed directly on the floor plan or area map, whether permitted on campus or in a forward location.

Captions: ClearPass maps help IT teams track and automate the application of predefined rules related to RF transmitters on the network.

Bastille and ClearPass allow IT departments to identify geozones that include or exclude areas where devices are allowed or not. If the RF devices are not deployed (or doing what they should not be doing), such as personal mobile phones, fitness trackers, sensors in the data center infrastructure, the signals will be sent via ClearPass. It will be automated. Enforcement can then be applied.

The automated actions are performed on the basis of the specified policies of the specified state agency. When a mobile device crosses a geozone boundary, Bastille communicates with ClearPass to enforce access to the network based on policies set at its physical location.

Bastille communicates with ClearPass if the mobile device crosses the geozone boundary, for example, if the RF device is in an unlicensed, protected facility and on the wrist of an unknown federal contractor. This time, ClearPass disconnects all cable devices and desktops from the network, preventing data leakage. If you wish, you can take other actions, such as alerting the IT services office to document the violation or informing the physical security team to track the device.

With the integration of Aruba and the Bastille, federal IT leaders are aware of the situation for all RFID devices in their respective facilities and other designated areas, but immediately mitigate the risk in the event of a threat. The ability to do is added. In short, federal agencies and counterparties have more effective ways to reduce risk than simply relying on a policy of honor and integrity.

Want to know more about how to protect your network from unauthorized RF transmitters? See the on-demand webinar “Clearing the Shadows of IT and RF Network Blindness: Implementing the RFID Policy” With Bob Bucksley, Chief Technical Officer of Bastille, and Khuong Tang, Senior Systems Engineer in Aruba.

For more information on Aruba’s federal IT solutions.