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Block Wi-Fi Intruders with a Secure Paint Job

pcworld.com — IT managers should start familiarizing themselves with a new security tool -- the paint brush -- as Japanese researchers have come up with a paint that they say will block high-speed wireless signals, giving businesses a cheap option to protect their wireless networks.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 25, 2009

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  • Renton, on 01/25/2009, -1/+59Is this really a big enough problem to sacrifice everybody's cell phone reception for?
  • peterjmag, on 01/25/2009, -0/+45Isn't WPA2 Enterprise with a strong key good enough? Critically sensitive company data shouldn't be passed over wireless networks, anyway.
  • holzp, on 01/25/2009, -0/+40Putting the "wall" back in firewall.
  • NavS, on 01/25/2009, -0/+34is there a transparent paint for all the windows?
  • nJectid, on 01/25/2009, -2/+33i hope my neighbors don't read this, i'll have to find another method to write bad comments on digg....
  • linagee, on 01/25/2009, -0/+17Depends if you have small children around that may lick the walls. Lead based paint?
  • JudgeDredd, on 01/25/2009, -0/+15This paint has been around for a long time. I heard about it first on The Screen Savers with Leo and Patrick. It makes a Faraday cage. Oh, look. The very first Google hit for Faraday cage paint is from 2004. http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004609.html
  • cmsjustin, on 01/25/2009, -0/+14Cheap? If you're of the size to consider doing this, you should also have a wireless controller that adjusts signal strength dynamically. And that seems cheaper than repainting your office.
  • Enlightenment, on 01/25/2009, -0/+13Paint all the movie theaters with it ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • TheKorn2, on 01/25/2009, -0/+13Just get those suicide-proof windows with integrated metal lathe that they use on the psych wards of hospitals. They work GREAT at blocking Wi-Fi signals. (...unfortunately!)
  • imrighturwrong, on 01/25/2009, -0/+10My home was built old style - no studs with drywall/sheetrock and paint. Instead, it's studs with bracing boards (1/2 inch thick) then heavy gauge chicken wire, horsehair and plaster and finally paint. Nothing wireless works in the house.
  • eklem, on 01/25/2009, -0/+10It's the newest within tinfoil-hat fashion
  • nJectid, on 01/25/2009, -1/+11wow, that's a lot of horses.
  • Rudegar, on 01/25/2009, -0/+9dugg down for using Downvoted which everybody else use dugg down or buried
    you can't just come here and make up your own words Joe! :P
  • lead2thehead, on 01/25/2009, -0/+9This uses copper flakes. Turns the room into a giant faraday cage.
  • inactive, on 01/25/2009, -2/+11Only humans would develop an advanced wireless communication system and then be so inept at managing it that they must devise stone age methods for containing it. This is like building walls around all telephone lines because you are afraid someone might plug a lineman's handset in somewhere.
  • CoolSilver, on 01/25/2009, -2/+11Didn't they already outlaw lead paint?
  • oldbike, on 01/25/2009, -0/+9The article is poorly written. The breakthrough isn't Faraday cage paint, but rather paint that works above 48 GHz. For example, the stuff in the link from lead2thehead has specs saying that it covers to 18 GHz. The new stuff is supposed to be good to 182 GHz and cover some of the newer wireless technologies.
  • TheKorn2, on 01/25/2009, -0/+8No, I used to be a wireless network engineer, and had to survey a few hospitals.
  • xfile087, on 01/25/2009, -0/+7you mean dugg up for great comment
  • lead2thehead, on 01/25/2009, -0/+7Probably not, but this has a lot of other uses. It was originally marketed to movie theaters to keep people from using their phones during the movie.
  • VitriolAndAngst, on 01/25/2009, -1/+7Um, its called interior and exterior paint. Contractors are pretty accustomed to treating these things as separate, when they aren't drinking and whoring about, splashing turpentine on each other and eating Spackle -- or so I've heard on the grapevine.
  • holzp, on 01/25/2009, -0/+6and chickens.
  • KooperG, on 01/25/2009, -0/+6maybe you could use it as a, you know, primer?
  • WanderOn, on 01/25/2009, -1/+6I'm on my neighbors internet right now... I hope they don't plan on trying something like this anytime soon :-x Its a bad enough signal as it is
  • Heiminator, on 01/25/2009, -1/+6so thekorn2,did you post that entry with a modem?
  • svensksvamp, on 01/25/2009, -0/+5Awesome! Although it would be more awesome if you could tell your router how big the room is.
  • TheKorn2, on 01/25/2009, -2/+7Yeah, good luck with that. Users don't give a damn about security, they just want to get their work done.

    (As for it being enough, IMHO yes it is. But that's just one man's opinion.)
  • Krissam, on 01/25/2009, -0/+4i wonder if it would be possible to host your own cell "tower" inside the building.
  • BJNK, on 01/25/2009, -1/+5Yes, Lemurs would make a much better wireless system. If only they had the tools. Such a shame.
  • TCKC2C, on 01/25/2009, -0/+4Surely businesses that have such an inherit need to have secure internet access that they'd consider painting their building in this stuff would be better off going with a wired network? But hey, I could be wrong.
  • scottmoss, on 01/25/2009, -2/+6I bet it's going to look wonderful.... kind of like a car you see with primer.... a nice flat gray....
  • CeeJayDK, on 01/25/2009, -0/+3Here's a novel idea - Don't use wireless.
    It cheaper to wire an ethernet through the building that it is to repaint every room.
    Wired ethernet is also much faster and much more stable than wifi , and doesn't take a techie to setup to use the right encryption settings.
  • Hurricane, on 01/25/2009, -0/+3Stupid idea for most places, so many reasons the list would be too long.

    However, it may be nice for movie theaters and waiting rooms.
  • Mackofalltrades, on 01/25/2009, -0/+3Old but I dont know if its digg old. I remember reading this 3 years ago.
  • BradHAWK, on 01/25/2009, -0/+3Brilliant! They can use this as a pigment for Ronco spray-on-hair

    http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/glhlb.htm
  • khyberkitsune, on 01/25/2009, -1/+3"But what the New Scientist is reporting is that existing technologies are becoming increasingly obsolete as companies are now using new, higher frequencies to send data. For example, the best wave absorbers commercially available today are only effective up to around 50GHz, whereas the latest wireless communications tend to use electromagnetic waves with a frequency of over 100GHz plus"

    Umm, show me where I can buy one of these 50GHz and 100GHz wireless routers.

    That's the problem - New Scientist has no ***** clue what they're talking about. Get a reliable source, PCWorld.
  • lead2thehead, on 01/25/2009, -0/+2This has been around for a while. It was originally marketed to movie theaters to keep people from using their cell phones during the movie. You can get it here for about $450 per gallon.

    http://www.lessemf.com/paint.html
  • techobo, on 01/25/2009, -2/+4Wouldn't that mean that mean that would need different paint for interior walls and for exterior walls? Good luck trying to explain that to contractors.

    Still, kind of a neat idea.
  • jasonh1234, on 01/26/2009, -0/+2Just needs a more user friendly UI with a calculator thingy to translate ACK Timing into aprox. sq. footage.

    Sq. Footage people understand.
    ACK Timing sounds like the delay time for Gag reflex.
  • inactive, on 01/25/2009, -0/+2scylla
  • VitriolAndAngst, on 01/25/2009, -0/+2If they could mix it with UV blocking paint for no extra charge, then it might have a purpose.

    To deal with the cell phone blocking situation, you can put signal repeaters on the roof of the building and broadcast these signals inside the building -- ending up with BETTER reception. Costs about $300 for a 3,000 sq ft area.
  • ultrafez, on 01/26/2009, -0/+1It's hardly stone-age. Just because it is an older technology, it does not mean that wireless is superior to it - ethernet is good for its job, as is Wi-fi.
  • inactive, on 01/26/2009, -0/+1I recall this paint shielding idea and actually demonstrated on techtv/screensavers 8 years ago.
  • Hurricane, on 01/27/2009, -0/+1LOL @ anal -yzing "stoneage Ethernet".

    In fact that is why the went back to Ethernet, because it is trusted and secure.
    No insult to the technology was intended.
  • nrox653, on 01/26/2009, -0/+1You can (though vaguely) by flashing your router with DD-WRT or something and setting the ACK Timing to some really low amount.

    That basically blocks any signal that takes a longer time to transfer.
  • TheKorn2, on 01/26/2009, -0/+1serebral: The thought was "Critially sensitive data shouldn't be passed over wireless networks".

    Yeah, good luck eforcing that. It has almost nothing to do with running WPA2.
  • pwr4, on 01/25/2009, -0/+1It seems crazy to just focus on using paint to block the signal. The article mentioned: "For example, Meru Networks said last year that it was using Wi-Fi signals to "cloak" wireless LANs and make it impossible for hackers to decipher them outside the office building."

    Here's an article that give more details to Meru Networks wireless cloak solution- costs $3,595.
    http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,100000008 ...

    If it is $450/gallon for the paint, that's only 8 gallons for the same price the wireless network. Unless you have a small office, the paint is still expensive, plus you still have to deal with the reduced/negated cellular signals. I just wonder how effective Meru Network's solution is.
  • drhouse, on 01/28/2009, -0/+1If they really want to limit Wi-fi usage, they should just use Belkin routers
  • antdude, on 01/25/2009, -0/+1It's down, but http://maint.pcworld.com/ shows me http://maint.pcworld.com/datacenter.jpg with "PCWorld.com is down for maintenance and will be back soon." Amusing. :)
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