A wireless access point can come in many shapes and sizes. There are commodity access points that can be purchased at your local computer store for around a hundred dollars. There are also industrial-quality access points sold by companies like Cisco Systems for thousands of dollars. Alternatively, through the hard work of open source developers, you can turn a Linux, FreeBSD, or OpenBSD host into an access point. Regardless of the type of access points you use, securing them is critical to the security of your entire network infrastructure. By using encryption, authentication, and proper monitoring, your access points will facilitate secure wireless communication.