{"id":10395,"date":"2007-01-29T10:29:59","date_gmt":"2007-01-29T17:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/01\/29\/the-free-wi-fi-trap.html"},"modified":"2007-01-29T10:29:59","modified_gmt":"2007-01-29T17:29:59","slug":"the_free_wi_fi_trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/29\/the_free_wi_fi_trap.html","title":{"rendered":"The free Wi-fi trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m sure in a year or two this will be as obvious as “don’t hand your credit cards to strangers (except, y’know, at restaurants),” but for now, it’s good info<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

The next time you’re at an airport looking for a wireless hot spot, and you see one called “Free Wi-Fi” or a similar name, beware — you may end up being victimized by the latest hot-spot scam hitting airports across the country. <\/p>\n

You could end up being the target of a “man in the middle” attack, in which a hacker is able to steal the information you send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords. And you could also have your files and identity stolen, end up with a spyware-infested PC and have your PC turned into a spam-spewing zombie. The attack could even leave your laptop open to hackers every time you turn it on, by allowing anyone to connect to it without your knowledge.<\/p>\n

[…] First, let’s take a look at how the attack works. You go to an airport or other hot spot and fire up your PC, hoping to find a free hot spot. You see one that calls itself “Free Wi-Fi” or a similar name. You connect. Bingo — you’ve been had!<\/p>\n

The problem is that it’s not really a hot spot. Instead, it’s an ad hoc, peer-to-peer network, possibly set up as a trap by someone with a laptop nearby. You can use the Internet, because the attacker has set up his PC to let you browse the Internet via his connection. But because you’re using his connection, all your traffic goes through his PC, so he can see everything you do online, including all the usernames and passwords you enter for financial and other Web sites.<\/p>\n

In addition, because you’ve directly connected to the attack PC on a peer-to-peer basis, if you’ve set up your PC to allow file sharing, the attacker can have complete run of your PC, stealing files and data and planting malware on it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The underlying theme is “Don’t connect to anything you’re not sure of, and make sure your autoconnecting is either turned off or tightly controlled.”<\/p>\n

I do a fair amount of business travel, and have had multiple occasions to connect into WiFi access points at airports (and other locations). While I’ve tried to be careful, this article will have me being even moreso.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sure in a year or two this will be as obvious as “don’t hand your credit cards to strangers (except, y’know, at restaurants),” but for now, it’s good info….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20,47,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-tech","category-my-computer","category-virii"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5152,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/10\/23\/loss_leader.html","url_meta":{"origin":10395,"position":0},"title":"Loss Leader","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Oct-03 9:14am","format":false,"excerpt":"More companies are finding that Free Wi-Fi hot spots more than pay for the minimal infrastructure and ongoing broadband charges, by attracting customers. 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While there were a lot of high-tech companies pushing for this stand from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8343,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/12\/08\/ive_got_the_pow.html","url_meta":{"origin":10395,"position":2},"title":"I’ve got the power!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Dec-05 2:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There's no answer in this PC World article, but the question is a good one: Why are airport lounges power-free zones? As far as I can tell, the world has...","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8173,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/05\/03\/open_networks.html","url_meta":{"origin":10395,"position":3},"title":"Open networks","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-May-05 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"A \"war-driving\" database of 2.7M wireless (Wi-Fi) networks. Eek! Mine doesn't appear to be on there. Not that it's open, mind you, but ......","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6141,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/05\/10\/wired_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":10395,"position":4},"title":"Wired","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-May-04 5:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft is discontinuing its line of Wi-Fi hardware. Which is a shame, because we've bought some of it, and it's actually pretty good, both in the hardware and software department....","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6691,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/08\/02\/that_only_a_chi.html","url_meta":{"origin":10395,"position":5},"title":"“… That only a child can do it …”","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 2-Aug-04 11:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"Grrr. 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