RE: Louisiana Bankers Set to Go Wireless

["Larry Seltzer" <Larry () larryseltzer com>]

> > Not to belittle the naivete about security in the company's claims,
they're using microwave transmissions. I don't think your Pringles can
will do much.

Following up on my own point, Wikipedia says (and we all know everything
in Wikipedia has been vetted by the best experts and has to be true)
that microwave transmission is point-to-point, so you'd need to stick
your tower - I mean Pringles can - in the way. I'm not saying that
nosing in on this communication is impossible, but it looks hard to me,
and probably expensive.

The points they make about being impervious to hurricanes, etc., are
iffy in some senses, but not others. The transmitters are built on
police towers which I'm sure are hardened against natural disaster; even
in New Jersey, for instance, I know that police stations have to be
reinforced against earthquakes. (I was on a committee that sited one in
my town.) So it's fair to say that they don't have as much worry about
telephone poles being knocked down. But how does the data get from the
police tower to the bank? They probably run dedicated lines, and have to
be concerned with the integrity of them.

Here's another unclear point: The article says "[t]he main benefit for
state police is the reliability of wireless communications during
hurricane conditions..." (note the plan calls for giving a few MB of
bandwidth to the police). But Wikipedia says
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_transmission) "...microwaves are
highly susceptible to attenuation by the atmosphere (especially during
wet weather)..." and "Affected by rain, vapour, dust, snow, cloud, mist
and fog, heavy moisture"

Larry Seltzer
eWEEK.com Security Center Editor
http://security.eweek.com/
http://blogs.eweek.com/cheap_hack/
Contributing Editor, PC Magazine
larryseltzer () ziffdavis com 

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