Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 10 December 2007 18:02
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
An alleged extortion attempt in Australia using unsecured wireless
networks, a PDA and threatening emails in the name of someone else has resulted in the arrest of a man. The incident serves as a timely reminder to
ensure the wireless networks in your life – whether yours, those of
friend and family, or at your workplace – are appropriately secured and
not open for anyone to use and abuse.
A report on
News.com.au has uncovered the alleged attempt of a man in Queensland to send extortionate emails and demands for money in the name of the editor of an Australian computer magazine, allegedly hiding his tracks through the use of unsecure Wi-Fi networks and a handheld PDA with additional software able to further obscure his location.
Because open Wi-Fi networks were used, when police arrived at the location of one IP address, they found an elderly couple horrified to discover that their wireless router was open for anyone to use.
The article states that a breakthrough only occurred because the man “allegedly demanded money to be dropped off at a certain location and he was arrested by undercover officers there” catching the man despite all the alleged wireless hi-jacking.
The good news is for consumers and business is that it’s not hard to avoid this kind of attack.
The simple steps are to ensure that you are, at a minimum, using the WPA, or preferably WPA2 encryption, which for users is also called WPA Personal (or the stronger WPA2 Personal). Both WPA encryption methods are much more secure than the old WEP standard which can be easily hacked. Use a password of at least 14 characters in length, and use both letters and numbers in the password to make it stronger and harder to crack.
Really old wireless broadband routers will probably only have WEP encryption, but most routers today also come with WPA and WPA2. If you have an older router and you haven’t updated the firmware in some time, it’s worth going to the website of the manufacturer and checking to see if a firmware update for your country is available.
If so, it can offer WPA or WPA2 encryption in addition to what you already have, along with other improvements that, generally speaking, add features and add to its stability.
The other thing to check is the computer(s) you are connected to your wireless network. If they are older, they may be using older drivers and software which only let you connect using the WEP encryption standard.
As WPA and WPA2 are much stronger, they should always be used in preference, so if your older laptop or desktop computer has either inbuilt Wi-Fi or an add on card, once again, visit the manufacturer to see if there are any updates.
What else do you need to do to stay secure on wireless? Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion.
