Patent ID: 7676218

Claim:
A device, comprising: a communications arrangement providing at least one mobile unit with access to a communication network, wherein the communication arrangement scans a plurality of radio frequency channels to detect a beacon transmitted by an unverified access point in the communications network, the beacon including identification information of the unverified access point; and a processor verifying the identification information with a preexisting database, the verifying comprising comparing a portion of a MAC (medium access controller) address representing a manufacturer identification included in the beacon to manufacturer identification information stored in the preexisting database and comparing a SSID (service set identification) included in the beacon to SSID information stored in the preexisting database, the preexisting database including identification information of a plurality of access points authorized to access the communications network, wherein when the verification of the identification information fails, the processor identifies the unverified access point as an unauthorized access point and sets conditions for which the unauthorized access point is allowed to access the communication network.