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Wireless Networking
Beware
Wardrivers and Wireless Pirates
by Jeff Cohen
Thanks
to the manufacturers' default settings leaving wireless encryption
switched off, thousands upon thousands of wireless connections
everywhere are completely insecure. New breeds of wireless
users have started to take advantage of this 'free' bandwidth
appearing everywhere: the wardrivers and the wireless pirates.
Wardriving
So
what's wardriving? Well, to put it simply, it's when someone
drives around with their laptop looking for unsecured wireless
networks to connect to. This allows people to circumvent
the physical security of large companies and connect to their
networks: the network is said to be leaking out of the building.
Wardriving used to be very difficult, but now there is easy
to use software such as NetStumbler that searches for open
networks automatically.
Wardriving
works well because wireless networks, by default, are set
up to provide access to any wireless-enabled computer that
comes within range. This is very convenient and easy to use,
but also extremely insecure.
The
legal status of wardriving is dubious to say the least, but
most of the people doing it don't have any malicious intent.
There are some, of course, who will abuse the massive amount
of bandwidth (download capacity) they can get access and
download enormous files at amazing speed. There is also a
small minority who may try to use access to a company's network
-- or even an individual's -- for nefarious ends.
Wireless
Piracy
It
is a point of contention among wireless users whether it
is possible to 'pirate' wireless Internet access. Sure, if
you go and sit outside someone's house in a car, you're probably
doing something you shouldn't be. But what if you just use
one of your neighbours' wireless networks instead of paying
for your own ISP and Internet connection? Is that wrong?
The
trouble is that it is impossible to tell whether an open
network has been left that way intentionally or not. Many
people have thought it through, and prefer to leave their
network open for anyone to use, seeing no harm -- I am one
of these people. Others just have no idea how to turn on
security. The problem would be solved overnight if wireless
equipment would come with encryption turned on by default
(meaning that you would have to change the settings if you
didn't want it). Unfortunately, the incompatibility of the
two current encryption standards makes this unlikely to happen
anytime soon.
In
the end, until things change, the answer has to come down
to your own individual ethics: you're probably not doing
much harm if you use your neighbours' connections, as long
as you don't download so much that you cause their connections
to go slower.
The
line is more blurred, of course, in areas where ISPs charge
for access by the gigabyte. If you're not sure one way or
the other, it's probably best to stick to your own network.
Should
You Be Worried?
Some
people are unnecessarily worried when someone tells them
that their network is insecure: they think hackers are going
to come and steal all their credit card numbers or something.
You might even run into people trying to sell you 'wireless
intrusion detection' software. Remember, though, that the
Internet is designed to operate over wires that anyone could
tap into: all sensitive data is encrypted anyway.
While
you don't need to be scared about someone sniffing your web
data, though, you should be a little more concerned about
any files or folders you have shared. If you don't want to
encrypt your network, you shouldn't share anything that you
wouldn't want others to see, and you certainly shouldn't
give the network write (change) access to anything you don't
have a backup copy of.
Of
course, if you really want to keep other people off your
network, it's not like it's hard to do yourself with a little
configuration.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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