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 Technology News | February 2008 
Wireless Internet Can Lack Security
 Ian Chadwick - Intelligencer
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An IT manager for a large government ministry in B.C. surprised me recently with a comment that he did not have Internet at home. When I asked why a person who would seem to need such access wouldn't have it, he shrugged and said because he used his neighbour's service.
That reminded me a bit of the early days of cable TV when people would put a splitter on the cable and run a line to a neighbour s house. But this very high-tech user wasn't splicing any phone lines. He was simply getting the service from the air.
That's right: he was just logging onto someone else's signal. If the signal isn't secured, anyone can log on. I wonder if the neighbour ever wondered why the Net would slow down at times for no obvious reason.
And it's not just laptops - game consoles with WiFi receivers can also grab any free signal out there. Online games take oodles of the available bandwidth, so this can have a dramatic effect on performance.
We were discussing this around the pool at our regular Mexican vacation spot last week. Another vacationer, overhearing us, came over with his laptop and talked about how it was getting easier in
Mexico to find a WiFi signal to get online and check his e-mail for free. At the small hotel where we stayed, he could get four or sometimes five signals. The rest of us trudged to the local Internet caf‚ and paid for our daily fix.
With the rapid increase of wireless use at home, there are a lot of unsecured WiFi signals around. As the wireless routers have been getting better, with stronger signals and faster transfer rates, it has become easier to find an unsecured signal you can use. That will only grow when the 802.11n protocols are finally approved and the industry can start mass production of faster, stronger wireless routers.
In an urban or suburban environment, there are also businesses with unsecured WiFi you can tap into. Some of this is intentional: many restaurants and bars, hotels, airports and even municipalities are providing free wireless access. Businesses are doing it to encourage customers, of course. Many are simply not aware that their signal is unsecured and can be hijacked by anyone with a wireless-capable laptop.
There are ongoing campaigns from various user groups to get free wireless service, essentially the wireless version of the Freenet campaigns that paralleled the start of the Internet. The wireless version seems to be having greater success, however.
For travellers, before you go on the road, you can go to a site like youcanworkfromanywhere.com, wififreespot.com or jwire.com and find free wireless hot spots anywhere in the world.
All these network signals are a mixed blessing. When they start to overlap, especially where signal strengths are low or fluctuate, your wireless receiver may jump from signal to signal looking for the best connection. Drop-off rate soars. There is also the greater potential of interference with other devices using the same frequency range, like cordless phones.
What this means to the commercial aspect of providing Internet access has not really worked itself out.
If you're a home or business owner with a wireless router, you might not always want to share your bandwidth with outsiders. Aside from the potential for a security breach, you may want to have the bandwidth all to yourself for the highest speed.
I advise that you read your router manual to see how to set the security settings so the signal is encrypted, or at the very least that there is no external access through the router to other computers or devices on your network.
Another caution is to turn your modem and router off when you leave or shut down the computer. |
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