Sharp PCMM20 User Guide - Page 14

Notice of Security with Wireless Devices Wireless LAN provides data transfer by means of electric waves instead of LAN cables between communicating devices such as personal computers and a wireless LAN station. Wireless LAN has an advantage of simple and ubiquitous LAN connection in the ranges where electric waves are available. Since electric waves can penetrate through walls and reach everywhere, wireless LAN includes some security threats and can produce the situations mentioned below without proper security settings. • Eavesdropping Malicious third parties can intercept the transmission and monitor your mail to obtain personal information such as an identification number, password, and credit card number. • Intruding Malicious third parties can connect to a personal or office network without authorization and illegally perform the following: • Obtaining access to confidential customer records or sensitive corporate information (Information leakage) • Faking the original information (Spoofing) • Altering the monitored original data and transmitting (Falsification) • Spreading computer viruses resulting in the destruction of data or systems (Destruction) Although wireless LAN cards and wireless LAN stations (Access Points) have security measures against the threats above, no security settings may have been configured at the time of purchase. All security features must be configured according to reference manuals of the wireless LAN devices, which results in reduced opportunities for the situations described above. Use with a clear understanding that wireless LAN includes vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to simply bypass security features. Security measures are important for all users to understand for a safe use of wireless LAN. SHARP encourages all users to configure the security settings with their own judgment and responsibility. xiv