The present invention provides a system and method for providing real-time
wireless network monitoring and intrusion detection. The present
invention profiles wireless devices and maintains a database of
known/authorized wireless device profiles. Wireless devices are analyzed
to determine the threat level they pose to the network, and if the threat
level exceeds a predetermined threshold, the invention refuses to bridge
the network traffic from the wireless devices to the wired network. The
present invention provides reporting of the wireless network activity,
the known and unknown wireless devices, and the threat levels posed by
the wireless devices. If an unknown wireless device is determined to be,
or may be, a wireless access point, an alert is generated, such as
notifying a system administrator to take appropriate action.