It is amazing to see how widespread WiFi has become. Just about everywhere you go, you can pickup WiFi networks. If you go to any of the technology stores that carry networking equipment such as Fry’s Electronics or Best Buy, the amount of retail shelf space dedicated to WiFi products is much larger than wired networking products. The other interesting point is that a surprising number of the WiFi networks out there are completely unsecured. A considerable portion of the people that have WiFi access to their home or small business network have their WiFi access point configured exactly as it came out of the box from the manufacturer. With many of these cases, people have not even changed the default admin password on their WiFi access point. It is also common for people to assume that the cable company or phone company installer that installed their WiFi system took all the steps necessary to adequately secure their WiFi network. It turns out, this is frequently a bad assumption. Most of these individuals do not realize that they are exposing themselves to the following potential security problems:
- their computers are available to unauthorized access
- any of their wireless communications can be captured by someone nearby with network sniffer software, exposing critical account access information
- network equipment configuration can be tampered with
- broadband internet access bandwidth can be stolen
- their network could serve as someone else’s Internet access point for conducting illegal activity
The last of those points may actually be the most important point listed. If someone engages in illegal activity through your open WiFi access point, you may find yourself having to prove that you were not the perpetrator of the activity when the “bread crumb” trail is traced back to your network.
I am by no means the first to make this point publicly, but there continues to be so many open WiFi networks because most people do not really understand the issues. If you have a WiFi network, and you have not taken specific intentional steps to secure your WiFi network access, you have an unsecured network. Even if you have taken deliberate action to secure your WiFi network access, you may still have an unsecured network. If you would like to learn more, I would highly recommend listening to some specific episodes of the Security Now! Podcast. You do not need to have an iPod to listen to these podcasts. This podcast is hosted by security expert Steve Gibson, who not ony is a very qualified subject matter expert, he also does a wonderful job of making technical topics very easy to follow. The show is also hosted by Leo Laporte who is an exceptional broadcast professional.
Links:
- Security Now! Website
- Episode #10: Open Wireless Access Points - Show Notes
- Episode #11: Bad WiFi Security - Show Notes
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