Grafitty anyone?

Mar 26, 2007 11:03 GMT  ·  By

As businesses and government facilities using wireless networks struggle to keep their confidential data in and hackers out, it seems that WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and even WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) may soon be obsolete and replaced by the newest high-tech protection: paint.

The EM-SEC Coating System, a recently revealed paint, acts as an electromagnetic fortress when applied on cables and even walls, allowing a wireless network to be confined within specific areas.

"The use of EM-SEC Coating as an electromagnetic barrier for the containment of wireless networks has opened a new realm of possibilities for our company and for the future of wireless communications" said Robert Boyd, Vice President and Director of Technology for EM-SEC Technologies, LLC. "As hackers, identity thieves and even terrorists become more sophisticated in the methods they use to obtain information or inflict damage, this experiment confirmed EM-SEC Coating reduces the threat from electronic eavesdropping and blocks out electromagnetic interference for the protection of electronic data."

EM-SEC, the new paint, uses a series of water-based shielding products that restrict the passage of airborne RF signals, and was initially developed to aid the U.S. Government and Military in shielding their operation centers.

Not surprised that, once again, the military gets the best stuff first?

They also initially had the Internet, then the hackers, so the protection against hackers was the next thing to come, right?

This may be the first reasonable low-tech answer to a high-tech problem (besides shielding the servers with a few feet of concrete) designed to fight the also low-tech approach of hackers, that can inflict serious damage by using only a few thousands of dollars worth of equipment against the multi-million dollars corporate security measures.

The researches announce that this paint will enter production very soon, but could this really mean the end for former hackers turned security analysts?