Patent ID: 7469139

Claim:
A wireless manager for configuring and securing wireless access to a network, the wireless manager adapted to: intercept a request from a mobile device to wirelessly communicate with a network, the request including one or more characteristics dynamically describing the mobile device, wherein the characteristics describing the mobile device include at least one of a physical characteristic or a logical characteristic describing a location of the mobile device; automatically identify a security profile based on the characteristics describing the mobile device, the security profile including one or more security parameters defining an access zone for the network; automatically provision at least one connection profile to the mobile device based on the characteristics describing the mobile device, the connection profile configuring one or more of the characteristics describing the mobile device to enforce the security parameters defining the access zone; and authorize the mobile device to wirelessly communicate with the network from within the access zone, wherein the security parameters include one or more in-house security parameters in effect when the location of the mobile device is within the network and one or more on-the-road security parameters in effect when the location of the mobile device is remote from the network, wherein the connection profile enforces the security parameters defining the access zone by instructing the mobile device to: automatically collect security information; encrypt the collected security information; and provide the encrypted security information to the wireless manager.