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As part of the 802.11b standard, every Wi-Fi radio has its unique Media Access Control (MAC) number allocated by the manufacturer. To increase wireless network security, it is possible for an IT manager to program a corporate Wi-Fi access point to accept only certain MAC addresses and filter out all others. The MAC control works like call blocking on a telephone: if a computer with an unknown MAC address tries to connect, the access point will not allow it.

However, programming all the authorized users' MAC addresses into all the company's access points can be an arduous task for a large organization and can be time consuming - but for the home technology enthusiast, or for small network installations, using a MAC filtering technique can be a very effective method to prevent unauthorized access.

Other security technologies include:

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2)
EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol)
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
Firewalls
Media Access Control (MAC) Filtering
RADIUS Authentication and Authorization
Kerberos
802.1x and New Security Technologies