Best of the ISP-Lists

How Wi-Fi Trespass Happens

Members of the ISP-Wireless list discuss the ease with which poorly set up wi-fi networks can be used. It just takes a little scan of the local spectrum. . .

[May 7, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in April, AH had a confession to make:

"I got curious and went to do a little 'war driving' (see this article on "the latest hacker fad") and I found a wireless LAN nearby. Was I ever surprised when my link meter went green! I sat across the street from his house and ran a link test with his AP. Nice solid connection, and that was without any external antennas attached to my card! I'm going to pick up a little antenna to see what else I can find."

A number of respondents suggested that he had been a bad, bad boy:

[PF considered] "I wonder if transmitting onto the network (or even listening in) would be bad. Is it like a cell phone where it's illegal to eavesdrop, or like satellite TV where it's not?"

[TS added] "Isn't this kind of like driving around town, looking for people who forgot to pull down their shades, and peeping in on them?"

Others drew a lesson or two from AH's intrusions:

[PL observed] "This is further argument against 802.11b DS as a choice for a WISP."

[BB jeered] "Here we go again: FH [definition] vs. DS [definition]! If this guy had encryption enabled, no one would even see his AP."

[TW added] "This also points out how important it is not to leave the default settings in the setup."

But AH noted that it had been even easier than any of them thought:

"Actually, I even picked up one that was encrypted. Didn't get the MAC address, but found out what channel he was using. I was just curious to see what was around, so I 'surveyed' the area using a DS card set to pick up any wireless LANs in the area."

JP took a more serious view:

"This is like driving around town and checking for unlocked doors on people's houses. It might not be illegal to do as long as you don't actually walk into their house, but if people saw it happening, they wouldn't be too thrilled about it. I realize that pulling data off someone's network isn't the same as walking into their home, but stealing their bandwidth or accessing their files is just like walking through their house and rooting through their stuff."

—End

Related articles:
	[Apr. 26, 2001]	Wireless Privacy: An Oxymoron?
	[Mar. 13, 2001]	Part 2: A Tenured Expert
	[Feb. 6, 2001]	Securing Wireless Transmissions