Law requiring businesses to secure their wireless networks to take effect in Westchester County

Posted Apr 20th 2006 9:12PM by Michael Sciannamea
Filed under: WiFi, Government, Business

There's a proposal under consideration in New York's Westchester County that will require local businesses to secure their wireless networks to prevent identity theft and other types of hacking from unauthorized users.

The law promises to be the first of its kind in the U.S. and will be directed toward all businesses with wireless networks, including hotels and cafes, that collect personal information, including social security numbers and bank and credit card infromation. The legislation is expected to be signed this week and will take effect by the fall.

Obviously, this is a good move to protect consumers. Businesses who have wireless networks but have not made securing them a priority will have to do so now or face the consequences from the county government, which include penalties would range from a warning on first offense to a $500 fine for the third offense.

Reader Comments

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1. For your own protection and privacy, you are advised to install a firewall or other computer security measure when accessing the Internet.

Posted at 3:29AM on Apr 21st 2006 by Smart

2. If the security measures are the users equipment than it is relatively safe. I'm sure this law was the brainchild of lobbyists from the telecommunications industry who don't want the internet to be accessed for free.

Posted at 9:23AM on Apr 21st 2006 by RJ

3. Interesting,

will this law catch on?

Anyway, thanks for the post

Posted at 1:38PM on Oct 16th 2009 by software developer

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