For almost 18 months starting in 2005, attackers used wireless networks at TJX and other retail chains to steal credit card data. The vulnerabilities were not an isolated instance: Subsequent research found that about half of all retail outlets in one shopping center had insecure wireless networks.
Today, WiFi security has improved somewhat, but insecurities in installations still remain far too common. Vulnerability assessments of more than two dozen companies found a quarter have rogue wireless access points that were installed by employees, and a third of their wireless networks had misconfigurations that undermined their security, according to wireless security firm AirTight Networks, which conducted the tests.

"A rogue AP is a very serious problem if you have it -- an unmanaged, unknown device that is circumventing your defenses," says David King, CEO of AirTight. "All the layers of defense that you worked so hard to put in can be circumvented by a single device that is communicating in the clear."

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