Indian police: Terrorist attack used U.S. citizen's WiFi
- TAGS:encryption, security, terrorism, Wi-Fi
- IT TOPICS:Applications, Devices, Internet, Mobile, Networking, Security, Windows
Think leaving your home WiFi network unprotected is no problem? Think again. Terrorists hacked into the home network of Keith Heywood in Mumbai, India on Saturday, and sent out an email about their impending attack minutes before 19 explosions killed 49 and wounded more than 200 people in Ahmedabad in western India.
According to the Hindustan Times, investigators say that someone apparently hacked into Heywood's home WiFi network, sent the email, and then vanished. It's not clear whether Heywood was using encryption or protection of any kind. Heywood is a U.S. citizen living in India
Heywood, according to the newspaper, had months previously complained to his ISP that his Internet usage seemed too high, and so he may have been hacked before. "I found that my Net usage had suddenly increased and I started getting inflated bills," he told the newspaper. Heywood isn't under investigation in the attacks.
Emails have been sent before other terror attacks in India, but up until now, they've been traced to cyber cafes. This is apparently the first time that an email has been traced to a home network.
The odds of this happening to anyone in the U.S., of course, are exceedingly slim. Still, it's one more reminder that home WiFi routers are exceedingly vulnerable. There's plenty you can do to protect yourself, though, as I outline in this Computeworld article. Do it, even if only to protect your personal data and files.
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