McAfee readies home Wi-Fi security tool

All home Wi-Fi gear comes with the bricks and mortar to put up at least a basic security wall against intruders and eavesdroppers, but McAfee wants to sell consumers a better trowel for building it.

The company's McAfee Wireless Home Network Security software automatically sets up encryption keys on Wi-Fi routers and the PCs connected to them and then rotates the keys every three hours, according to Stu Elefant, senior product manager for wireless and new initiatives at McAfee. It will work with older Wi-Fi systems that use the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption system, as well as current equipment that also supports the newer WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WPA 2 technologies, he said. The software will go on sale online next week and in stores next month.

McAfee's software is designed to keep intruders - either malicious "war drivers" or neighbors who just want to freeload on a broadband Internet connection - from getting on to wireless LANs and from deciphering the packets that travel over the network. Once on a wireless LAN, intruders can steal information, intercept messages and install harmful programs. As consumers rapidly embrace Wi-Fi for their home networks, many are not using any security, usually because they can't figure out how to set it up, according to industry analysts and other observers.

The Santa Clara, California, company isn't alone in trying to attack the problem. Broadcom Corp., which makes the chips used in many popular wireless LAN products, has developed a simplified security setup technology that was introduced in some Cisco products last month and may be coming to other vendors' offerings soon. And the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that certifies Wi-Fi gear, in the first half of next year plans to create a standard for easy security setup that vendors can build in and have certified as a check-off item on their products.

After loading McAfee's software on a PC, users can set up security in a few easy steps, according to Elefant. McAfee uses the standard Wi-Fi security mechanisms, but also produces a stronger key than most consumers can and adds automatic key rotation, he said. The full features of the software work on any PC running Windows 98 Second Edition, ME, 2000 or XP. To use any client with another operating system, the user has to get the automatically generated key and enter it manually, with automatic key rotation turned off.

The software saves consumers from having to log in to the Web browser page of the Wi-Fi router and typically going through a series of settings pages, Elefant said. Once loaded on the first PC, the software detects an insecure wireless LAN nearby and asks if the user wants to protect the network. If they confirm it, the software puts a key on the PC, sets up a secure connection to the router and sets up the same key on the router. To add another system to the network, the user will load the software, and a screen will pop up on any PC that's already on the protected LAN. That existing user can accept or reject the new participant.

McAfee's software needs special code to work with various Wi-Fi routers because they don't all have the same Web interface for setup. The tool works with most of the popular Wi-Fi routers, including models from Cisco Systems Inc.'s Linksys division, D-Link Corp. and Belkin Corp., according to Elefant.