OT: Wireless trap is still snaring business
by Simon Moores
Wednesday 13 March 2002
cw360.com
Today, I joined Sky News, a laptop and an empty Pringles can on
a tour of London's Square Mile.
The mission, to eavesdrop on wireless networks and identify
those that had failed to put in place even the most rudimentary
protection against any passer-by "dropping-in" to the network.
Just about every computer publication has warned against the
flakiness of the wireless world, wide open as it is to
hacker-friendly products such as AirSnort.
Wireless LAN (802.11) technology is increasingly attractive to
business. I even have a Cisco Aeronet at home. It's wonderful,
has no cables and I can browse the Web and collect my mail from
anywhere in the house or garden. Trouble is, you might ask, have
I protected myself by enabling the security? Probably not, I am
after all at home and surely, wireless stays within the boundaries
of my property? Of course it doesn't you'll tell me and the same
applies to the 50 or so Wireless LANs that were picked up during
the filming of the Sky News piece.
More than 60% of the networks detected were completely
unprotected - not using Wired Equivalent Protocol encryption or
indeed any type of encryption - they were simply wide open. In
principle this allows anyone to piggy-back on the network for a
free ride or worse, collect the traffic flowing back and forth along
the network without anyone being the wiser.
It strikes me from looking at the statistics from today's small
trawling exercise that far too many network administrators are
taking stupid pills. After all that's happened in the last 12 months
and the increasingly pervasive atmosphere of security that
surrounds us, why on earth aren't they taking the simplest steps
to protect their businesses? I vaguely remember telling my small
daughter a bedtime story, probably Winnie the Pooh, which
featured an "Idiot Trap". "What's an idiot trap?" she asked.
"Something to do with Rabbit, a Pringles can and wireless
networks", should have been my reply.
By the way, the Pringles can acts as a natural collector of wireless
LAN signals. Cheese and onion works best!
Simon Moores column also appears on
www.zentelligence.co.uk |
