Red-M's Red-Alert Pro is a wireless intrusion detection probe that senses 802.11 a, b, g, and even Bluetooth activity simultaneously. It logs security threats and feeds the details to a Red Detect server if run in managed mode, or stores it if run standalone. Red-Alert Pro keeps track of connections between known and unknown devices, making an alert whenever a new unknown device is present and informing you of which device(s) the unknown entity is communicating with. If run in standalone mode, the security logs can be accessed via a convenient and intuitive web interface. If run in managed mode, the Red Detect server handles the logs.
Red Detect comes with both a server and a console component. The server is responsible for monitoring the probes, analyzing incoming data and, if desired, handling a "countermeasure" on any unauthorized intrusion.
Red Detect's client software acts as the primary interface to the server and shows events, alerts, reports, even graphical network representations. When initially connecting to the server, by default the client software wants to refer to it by hostname, which was unable to resolve properly on our test network. Checking the box to have the client software address the server by IP address, however, worked perfectly.
Installation of the components was simply plug-and-play, as all the probes and server need are power and ethernet connections.
Once each probe is configured, Red Detect is ready to monitor wireless security. The management console component requires Windows 2000 or XP, 512 MB RAM, and at least a pentium 3 1Ghz system, according to the manufacturer. However, it ran perfectly well on systems that were far inferior in specification.
The Probe's range is advertised as being up to 60,000 sq ft, but as with all wireless products, it is dependent on site characteristics. In our setup, it did not see a different wireless network that was about 150 feet away, which was admittedly through two heavy doors and around a corner.
Unfortunately, web-based help is not available for these products, although the included user guide served its intended purpose well.
