We have a few older HP laptops that when docked in a port replicator the WLAN connection is disabled and the LAN connection is enabled. We have since replaced these with Toshiba R700s which do not have this feature.
Is there any security risk in running both a WLAN and wired LAN connection at the same time?
Toshiba R700s are running Windows 7 Enterprise.
Best Answer
There is no specific security risk to having two network interfaces enabled, beyond the fact that it is possible for the user to not notice which interface is in use (e.g. the laptop may have automatically connected to a wireless network while the user thought it was using the ethernet connection). You can avoid this problem entirely by simply turning the wireless power switch off when using an ethernet connection, or just looking at your network status occasionally.