AES Encryption Meets Highest Security Requirements

Advanced Encryption Standards (AES) have become the de facto standard for wireless backhaul microwave radios these days. Many people I’ve talked to have voiced concerns about sending their sensitive data over the air for all to capture. Many confuse point-to-point wireless backhaul microwave radios with consumer grade 802.11 WiFi which bears little resemblance. But, as much as I reassure them the over-the-air signal is encrypted, they seem dubious about the prospect of deviating from their normal means of remote connectivity–usually leased lines or even fiber. The FUD factor of using wireless has been used by the telcos to dissuade their customers from the technology since it cuts into their bread and butter business. What the telcos don’t tell their customers is the very data circuits they sell as “secure” are in fact not very secure at all. To make matters even more confusing, many government and independent bank auditors have been equally misled.

One bank client I recently met with expressed strong doubts about the use of wireless compared to T1 leased lines .. the logic being–since T1s are point-to-point, non-public data circuits, they’re secure. Well, that’s not necessarily true. I asked the bank customer if they use T1s for transporting voice and data and they answered yes. I asked if they were encrypting one or both over the T1s and they answered, “no, why would we..T1s dont’ run over a public network so they’re secure”. The real truth is, T1 circuits can be easily tapped at various points including manholes, utility poles, shared-tenant phone closets, and yes…even at the telco central office itself if someone wanted to capture sensitive information. When I was on premises at some of the competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) I worked with over the years, during voice-quality listening procedures we would routinely monitor  live voice conversations by connecting a test set to any given T1 or E1 circuit by plugging into a monitor jack on their DSX patch panel. Easy. Fortunately, I was the “good” guy and and did not have a reason for capturing any sensitive information for illicit purposes. I was listening to how conversations sounded over the voice compression equipment we installed, not what was being said.

The  business world is operating under a gross misconception that telco leased lines are “secure”. The sad truth is they’re not. Wireless technology had to be encrypted for obvious reasons. So, why are so many reluctant to deploy wireless where it makes sense? The short answer is, education or perhaps the lack thereof. That’s why I launched Wireless-Maven.com..to truly have a single point of reference to point potential clients to help alleviate their fears and uncertainties about wireless.

Attempts to crack AES encryption by using brute-force means is best described by the scientific community as futile. According to all accounts, to successfully crack AES would take a single computer running cracking software billions of years to crack AES 128. Even using the fastest super-computers today working in tandem would take literally hundreds of thousands of years to crack. OK, so maybe it can be cracked..but a million years from now, who’s going to care anyway. The U.S. government has approved AES encryption for the transmission of highly classified secret information.

The bottom line about wireless encryption is it’s there…unlike traditional leased lines it truly is secure. And when you couple the speed virtues with the lower cost of deploying wireless, it just makes good sense to consider it for your business.