Work For Stay At Home Moms

Airport Menace: The Wireless Peeping Tom

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Or mobile phone, it's a moment in time where no one can
reach me by e-mail, i
actually like to fly. It seems like the airport is my second home, at times. I travel quite frequently, as a network security consultant.

I'm just glad I know
more about wireless Ethernet than the average road warrior. I'm
never really surprised at what I find. But one of my favorite things to
do at the airport is browse the wireless Ethernet waves. Trading Spaces, from the
TLC show, i ran into Frank Bielec, a few months ago. I've even met some famous people during my
travels. It never fails that something interesting happens to me at
the airport.

The Dangers Of Ad-Hoc Wireless Networking

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For more information on configuring your
"Infrastructure Mode" wireless network take a look at the
"Wireless Network Security" page at Defending The Net. And have made some additional changes to your AP
in order to prevent just anyone from using it or capturing
data, some level of
encryption, if you have a
secure wireless network configured in "Infrastructure Mode"
you are using MAC address filtering. This method of wireless
networking is called "Infrastructure Mode". Or AP, connect to the wireless network by attaching to a
wireless Access Point, or the
office, most people who have wireless Ethernet at home.

Links

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http://www.defendingthenet.com/WirelessNetworkSecurity.htm

There are a few things you should be aware of, or "Ad-Hoc", and are configured to communicate from machine to machine, for those who are not using "Infrastructure Mode", however.

Or planning tomorrows agendas, power up their laptops and get to work
completing the days tasks, delayed
once again, business men and women. The airport is probably the best place
to find Ad-Hoc networks. It could cause you a
great deal of grief, but when your on the road, it's not a huge
problem, at home. And forget about it, most people just set
it up, the problem is. It's kind of a peer to peer configuration and
it works rather well. A wireless Ad-Hoc network allows you to communicate with
other wireless Ethernet systems without using a wireless
access point.

He said yes, and configured to use wireless Ethernet, and asked if his laptop was on, i thanked him. He walked by me
about ten minutes later and commented on how much he liked
my laptop. I found that the gentleman two seats up
from me had a laptop configured as Ad-Hoc, just after we reached
cruising altitude and were allowed to use our "approved
electronic devices", about three months ago. But on the
plane, not just in the terminal. I can't tell you how many systems I find in the airport
configured this way.

I performed a
directory listing of his hard drive and the guy almost had a
heart attack! I
received a notice that the connection was successful and
drive Z: was now mapped to his computer, and typing "net use *
hiscomputersIPAddressc$ "" /USER:administrator", after configuring my laptop to use the
same IP address class as his. So I obliged, he asked me to see if I
could. And I
told him that it might be possible, he asked me if I could access his hard drive. I showed him that I could see
his laptops wireless Ethernet and informed him of the
danger, to make a long story short.

I
get lucky quite often, my response to him was. He made the
statement that I got real lucky because his local admin
account did not have a password, at one point during the configuration. Starting with securing his computers local administrator
account, he moved up to the seat next to mine and we
spent the next hour or so configuring his laptop securely, after this.

Who Else Has Your Client List

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They get
concerned, all of a sudden. Then they
think a little bit and start rattling of things they never
really thought about before. "I really don't have
anything of great importance on this system", so many
people I talk to initially say. How about
your personal finances (Identity theft ring a bell)? Do you maintain your customer list on your laptop
(Do you want this in the hands of a competitor)? What do you have to lose if
someone is able to just peruse the files and data on your
laptop? Just think of the possibilities.

Not less, yet the number
of unsecured networks seems to be getting greater, there
are thousands of articles on the Internet about the dangers
of improperly configured wireless networks. Can pose a significant risk, if not properly
configured and secured, or
"Ad-Hoc" wireless Ethernet communications, whether it be "Infrastructure Mode", the fact is.

Strength And Posture Does Reduce Your Risks

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Reduce the risks of
becoming a target buy configuring your system with a strong
security policy. The
same thing goes for computer security. Because thugs
typically pick out those who look like an easy target, why. And project
a position of strength and authority, to walk tall, especially in the evening, i
remember my father telling me that when you walk down the
street, when I was growing up in South Philadelphia. Keep in mind that your objective should be to reduce the
chances that you will become a target for computer
compromise.

The best scenario it to keep of the radar altogether; those at the
bottom of the list typically never come on my radar screen. May be easiest to compromise, with a particular
vulnerability, i
then prioritize that list by which system. And potential methods of compromise, i create a list of
potential targets, when I perform security assessments.

Conclusion

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Follow a few rules and keep yourself secure
against most common types of compromise, no matter what
configuration, if your are using wireless Ethernet.

especially those that have administrative control
over your system; make sure all your user accounts have strong
passwords, above all, 1.

it is still helpful; And then use it, but if this is all you have to work
with, i know there is a lot of concern about the
"crackability" of WEP. Configure your wireless network to use some sort of
encryption. 2.

use MAC addresses filtering to restrict
unwanted systems from attaching to your wireless network; if possible, 3.

These updates can be found on
your card or AP's support site. Make sure the firmware for your AP's and wireless
Ethernet cards are up to date. 4.

And no one ever knows it, think about how many systems become
compromised, worse yet? If you are compromised over your wireless network
it can be near impossible to track down where the attack
came from, remember.