What wireless security problem?

I've needed internet access

I've needed internet access while on the road and many times have turned nto a residential area and jumped on a wireless network. I think it's great for people like myself just need to hitch a connection for a short operiod of time to get directions or some other peice of important information. I don;t know why people don't use the basic form but effective wireless security and use MAC filtering to protect themselves from unwanted guests.

After my original post on

After my original post on Posted on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 12:56pm I was delighted to come back and see come kind of conversation.

David, any comment?

Top things most likely to be

Top things most likely to be done to you in the first week in a major metro area:
1- not much as you say, maybe just a passive scan and you get added to a database as a sucker
2- then maybe you'll attract attention and you'l get a nice root kit installed
2- then comes the keylogger
3- if you have nice equipment you'll be used to send spam and host illegal files
4- if you have new or old equipment they'll still forward your keylogger to an port somewhere and scan it periodically for any keywords like financial institution web addresses. they'll keep you in various databases that get traded as zombies.

If you are rural, maybe you'll just get some kids looking to hide the source of their traffic. Maybe you'll be extra lucky and go a year or two with not so much as a ping in either case, but why-o-why would you walk around with a "kick me" sign on your back ?

I like what the last

I like what the last commentor wrote. Yes, there's a low probability that someone's going to break into YOUR house. The probability remains low *until* it happens to you. Probability theory says we can never entirely remove the risk, only reduce it. Locking the doors reduces it that much more. Same with network security.

Lots of nice theory here,

Lots of nice theory here, but the reality is that I've had my WAP open for years (I like to call it a community service). My laptop has never been hacked. I've been attacked. Until I started using NATing, my personal firewall would catch several scans/pings per day (but I'm not certain if those are coming from the wireless network or from the ISPs network). Since NATing, I rarely see anything.

My biggest problem doesn't come from the outside, it comes from the inside (like most major corporations). I'll log my teenage cousin or some computer-barely-literate friend on to my laptop and they download the latest spyware/virus from their Hotmail account. Of course, I'm protected and the malware gets caught, but still....

I think Ramel's original

I think Ramel's original post raises a good point about how we react to computer security and vulnerability problems in general. Vendors often play on our fears needlessly, but we'd all be fools to ignore what is needed and every network or workplace or home situation is different. And many home users really don't load a lot of sensitive data just because they can't assess how vulnerable they really are. And keeping up with home computer security can be really time consuming. It's not directly related, but IT managers who are being assigned the task of preparing for increased telecommuting with a possible bird flu pandemic are saying they don't want to be seen as chicken little, while they also see the need for more home-based vpns, etc. you might say that the ultimate question constantly facing IT guys and computing technologies is how deeply to pursue any technology.

In the example of installing

In the example of installing an access point in a corporate conference room on the corporate network, I'd be very concerned with someone accessing internal servers. Who cares about surfing the net, but what if the conference room network has special access rights to ERP and other internal mission critical servers? OK, maybe there are other layers of security in place (security as an onion) but why eliminate one layer? And will your internal IDS/IPS help if you've just handed the keys to your internal network to a war driver?

I think the key is that you're opening one door that may lead to a series of other open doors. That is why blocking access at the edge is preferable in case one of those other doors (file shares, etc.) is left open.

Here's a concrete example of

Here's a concrete example of how wireless was used to compromise Lowes Hardware a couple of years ago. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10138

This is still happening. Just because you don't see it in the news on a daily basis doesn't mean it's not happening. Your post was obviously meant create some contriversy, not to be a serious example of good reporting.

Martin McKeay
martin_cw@mckeay.net
http://www.mckeay.net/secure/
Voicemail: 916.231.9479

Let me take a moment to

Let me take a moment to revel in the ignorance. Please, open up your home network. Let me drive by, or if you're on a hill, let me point a nice yagi at your window from a half mile away. Let me zombify your home box. Let me lift your license keys for your software. Let me snag your acount numbers from Quicken. Your identity and property data from turbotax will fetch enough coin to make it worth my time. Let me pound gigs of expensive pirate software up to Usenet from your fixed IP, and drag gigs of illegal bondage, snuff, and child porn films back down. Let me install a darknet client on your box and make you into another 10GB stop on the unseen parts of the info highway until you re-install Windows to get rid of the slowdown. Just because you're not the target of a major heist doesn't mean you won't get mugged in a way that makes you out to be a perp.