I've run across "bogus" wi-fi's in hotels all of the time. I usually just bring my own router, or use the ppc-6700.
Posted on 05/15/2008 11:59:45 AM PDT by KJC1
Some advice from the FBI: You're at the airport waiting for your flight. With time to kill, you're thinking of connecting your laptop to the airport's Wi-Fi to check your office e-mail, do some personal banking, or shop for a gift for your spouse.
But first, consider this: Odds are there's a hacker nearby, with his own laptop, attempting to "eavesdrop" on your computer to obtain personal data that will provide access to your money or even to your company's sensitive information.
Here's something else to consider: There are 68,000 Wi-Fi "hot spots" in the U.S., at airports, coffee shops, hotels, bookstores, schools and other locations where hundreds or thousands of people pass through every day. While many of these hot spots have secure networks, some do not, according to supervisory Special Agent Donna Peterson of the FBI's Cyber Division.
How do hackers grab your personal data out of thin air? Often, Peterson said, a bogus but legitimate-looking Wi-Fi network with a strong signal is strategically set up in a known hot spot; the hacker waits for nearby laptops to connect. At that point, your computer -- and all your sensitive information, including user ID, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- basically belongs to the hacker. The intruder can mine your computer for valuable data, direct you to phony Web pages and record your every keystroke.
(Excerpt) Read more at pioneerlocal.com ...
something to think on
VPN
A couple of months back I flew across country and back, both flights included one airport-change, so I was in several different airports and I never saw any free wi-fi. The airports I was in all wanted you to pay some exorbitant one-time or monthly charge to connect.
I’m not that addicted. I used my computer offline.
Now, after reading this, I’m not even going to look for free spots.
Yawn... this has been an ongoing issue since the beginning of wireless. Take precautions, and if you don’t know how then you better learn. If you fail to protect your personal data, you deserve to get hacked.
I thought VPN, too but what if your connecting up to one of the “planted” hot-spots. Even before you vpn, you are delivering yourself into their arms.
Besides, I bet 99% of people who vpn uncheck the box “use default gateway on remote network” so they can continue surfing the internet from their unencrypted connection even while connected to their vpn.
That takes nearly all of the protection of vpn. Your vpn link to your office remains secure, but your computer is wide open on all other ports.
I've run across "bogus" wi-fi's in hotels all of the time. I usually just bring my own router, or use the ppc-6700.
Well signal-search is your friend, then.
I have no problem connecting to the SSID that’s posted on the airport wall...I try to avoid open LinkSys or “FranksWiFi” when it shows up on the search
The article does mention that. Make sure your connections are manual and not automatic and disable your wireless card when you’re not using it.
As far as using Wi-Fi hot spots, I NEVER visit anything of mine that has anything to do with banking or other sensitive items.
So how does someone infiltrate the “secured” area of an airport and maintain a bogus wifi server?
Shouldn’t security realize pretty quickly that there is another wifi signal being BROADCAST IN A SECURED AREA?
They have cameras and eyes everywhere. So they cannot looks for a culprit?
I don’t work for them nor do i get any compensation for saying this but...Try “Boingo”. A lot of airports are passing them through as service. Mine is $6.95/connection and it comes through in a lot of airports. Boingo.com
ping
Tech ping
Park your butt in the lounge with a laptop configured to run a wi-fi hot spot. You'll look like every other passenger with a laptop.
...and send out threats, or terrorist activity announcements, or all sorts of bad things.
Bingo! That, and just don't transfer or connect to anything sensitive while on one of these untrusted networks.
Very good point!
You’ll look like the rest of them, but your fake server will be publicly visible. And your actions can be monitored.
Someone needs to wake up and do the job of airport security.
It will be very easy to do what I said until they wake up. If nothing else you could make a quick thousand dollars not by hacking, but by having your wireless connections use a DNS you set up to redirect them to various sites where you get paid for traffic no matter where they're trying to go. I don't even know if that would be illegal.
I use a Verizon Wireless Broadband Aircard and it works everywhere (airports, coffee shops, home) - even when I was out of the country last summer (ok, I won’t tell you what the per minute charge was but nationally it’s a great solution). This is the way I connect at home as well so no phone line to pay for, etc - just the monthly charge on my aircard and I am completely mobile.
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