Westchester County Law Requires Businesses To Secure Wi-Fi Networks

Unauthorized access to unsecured wireless networks will no longer be a problem at Westchester County. The New York county has passed a new law requiring businesses to secure their Wi-Fi networks, if they are mainly used to access financial information for customers.

Westchester Country Executive Andrew Spano believes that the new law will decrease incidence of identity theft and will also help businesses avoid public relations headaches stemming from data breaches. Businesses know that bad press is bad for business.

Prior to the passing of the law, county officials discovered that almost half of the county’s 248 Wi-Fi networks were wide open, which led to new mandatory security measures, along with a requirement to post signs to warn customers of the risk of surfing unprotected networks: For your own protection and privacy, you are advised to install a firewall or other computer security measure when accessing the Internet.

Unauthorized access to unsecured wireless networks will no longer be a problem at Westchester County. The New York county has passed a new law requiring businesses to secure their Wi-Fi networks, if they are mainly used to access financial information for customers.

Westchester Country Executive Andrew Spano believes that the new law will decrease incidence of identity theft and will also help businesses avoid public relations headaches stemming from data breaches. Businesses know that bad press is bad for business.

Prior to the passing of the law, county officials discovered that almost half of the county’s 248 Wi-Fi networks were wide open, which led to new mandatory security measures, along with a requirement to post signs to warn customers of the risk of surfing unprotected networks: For your own protection and privacy, you are advised to install a firewall or other computer security measure when accessing the Internet.