inside the man

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Wi-fi bandits beware

Many people take a rather cavalier attitude towards hopping onto whatever unprotected wireless network might be at hand. You might want to rethink your perspective based on this news item blogged today by Schneier.

"Near as I can tell, there was no other criminal activity involved. The man who used someone else's wireless wasn't doing anything wrong with it; he was just using the Internet."

Of course, there are many wireless network owners that leave their networks open precisely because they do not mind at all if passers by jump on for a while. I am sure that I am not the first to suggest this, but if you have no problem with casual users on your network, broadcast a clearly inviting SSID such as "all_r_welcome".

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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Returned to working as a Management Consultant, specializing in risk, security, and regulatory compliance, with Fujitsu Canada after running the IT shop in the largest library in the South Pacific.

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