Westchester County, New York (perhaps not coincidentally one of the richest counties in the U.S), has just passed a law requiring businesses to turn on security on wireless Internet networks if "they are used to access financial information for their customers."

Calling it the first law of its kind, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano said the new law would cut down on identity theft while allowing businesses to avoid the "public relations disasters" that accompany data breaches.

New law requires some businesses  secure their WiFi networks by Eric Bangeman, Arstechnica, 4/21/2006 11:12:47 AM,

I find the PR reason even more interesting than this method of attempting to stamp out unauthorized access. Citing the Cardsystems case of last year, the article  notes that the bad press in that case resulted in lost business.

That connection should help businesses get serious about securing networks, regardless of how well this particular law works.

-jsq

PS: See on Digg.