N.Y. county enacts law to force wireless security

I personally think that this is a great thing. You wouldn’t believe the number of businesses I come in to contact with that have a wide open WAP.  From MSNBC:

Westchester County on Thursday enacted a law that is designed to limit identity theft by forcing local businesses to install basic security measures for any wireless network that stores customers’ credit card numbers or other financial information.

The law also requires that businesses offering Internet access — coffeehouses and hotels, for example — post signs warning that users should have firewalls or other security measures.

As he signed the bill, County Executive Andrew Spano said the county had been unable to find any law like it in the country and had received inquiries about the legislation from other states and from Great Britain, South Korea and the Czech Republic.

“There are many unsecured wireless networks out there, and any malicious individual with even minimal technical competence would have no trouble accessing information that should be kept confidential,” Spano said. “It would be nice if these businesses took the necessary steps on their own to ensure their networks were kept secure, but the sad fact is that many don’t.”