Sep132007

I’m on the bus! Blogging!

Tagged:

Somewhere along the way they upgraded the wireless stuff on the bus but they changed the name of the access point so I thought it was one of those fake ones out to steal your data.

QDB: Quote #202477

(Mootar) morons.
(Mootar) these people who live in my apartment complex are connected to my wireless
(Mootar) they must think they’re super-cool hackers by breaking into my completely unsecure network
(Mootar) unfortunatly, the connection works both ways
(Mootar) long story short, they now have loads of horse porn on their computer

Wireless Safety

This is something you will be hearing the computer experts repeat over and over: Don’t connect to any unknown networks with your laptop.

It’s easy to go to a public place like a crowded coffee place, airport, sports stadium or whatever and assume there will be free internet for you to use. Open up your network settings and you see access points with delightful names like “Free Internet”, “Guest Internet” or “Wireless4all”. You have to remember that bad people can easily create their own networks and call them whatever you want. I could buy a $40 wireless router, name it “Starbucks” and start poking and prodding your computer as soon as you connect.

I have a nice fast connection to your machine and I can try a zillion different ways to break into it or I could watch every little piece of data that you sent over the air like emails, passwords, whatever Google Maps location you are looking up right now, your online shopping for sex toys, etc.

So really, even though I am on the bus blogging, you should not be unless you’re sure your computer is secure and the network is trusted. Even when you do connect to the network, keep it safe and don’t do stupid things like checking email, banking or anything involving your personal details and credit card numbers.

But Wireless is the Future

It sure is. But we’re going to need trusted networks. Things like the existing cellular networks or maybe free wifi rolled out by some benevolent dictator. Or maybe when wireless hardware and protocols get a lot smarter.

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7 comments »

karan

i.e. practice safe surfing.

There’s a dearth of free wifi in any of the places i’ve been recently, though.
Jack

Dearth? As in a scarcity? I thought there would be heaps in London. From my apartment I see about 8 protected networks and 2 unprotected ones (although those are open+VPN).

I forgot often that I’m on someone else’s network. I’ll type in the URL for some website before I realize I really wouldn’t want anyone to be sniffing this traffic.
karan

Haven’t seen a single free one in the city of London, and only two open ones that are mobile-company affiliated. There’s a couple of cafes, sure, but then I don’t often carry my laptop around to take advantage.
Mike

Thanks for the tip, if Australia ever catches up I’ll be sure to remember these important points.
Jack

Australia is already catching up! Places like universities and cafes are bringing in wireless and business are carrying wifi-enabled phones that drives up demand. You’ll see more and more wifi in the CBD.

As for the burbs? Nah. No free internet out there for a long time.
Mike

When are you ever going to see me in a university, cafe or business jack? :-P
Clink

Wow. Yeah. Excuse me why I go bang my head against a wall.

When we first moved into our apartment our wireless wasn’t hooked up yet so we stole from other people in the building. Now I’m all paranoid. Crap.

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