Hard-hitting IT commentator Dr Simon Moores gives his personal take
on the hot issue of the day.
Today, I joined Sky News, a laptop and an empty Pringles can on a
tour of London's Square Mile.
The mission, to eavesdrop on wireless networks and identify those
that had failed to put in place even the most rudimentary
protection against any passer-by "dropping-in" to the
network.
Just about every computer publication has warned against the
flakiness of the wireless world, wide open as it is to
hacker-friendly products such as AirSnort.
Wireless LAN (802.11) technology is increasingly attractive to
business. I even have a Cisco Aeronet at home. It's wonderful, has
no cables and I can browse the Web and collect my mail from
anywhere in the house or garden. Trouble is, you might ask, have I
protected myself by enabling the security? Probably not, I am after
all at home and surely, wireless stays within the boundaries of my
property? Of course it doesn't you'll tell me and the same applies
to the 50 or so Wireless LANs that were picked up during the
filming of the Sky News piece.
More than 60% of the networks detected were completely unprotected
- not using Wired Equivalent Protocol encryption or indeed any type
of encryption - they were simply wide open. In principle this
allows anyone to piggy-back on the network for a free ride or
worse, collect the traffic flowing back and forth along the network
without anyone being the wiser.
It strikes me from looking at the statistics from today's small
trawling exercise that far too many network administrators are
taking stupid pills. After all that's happened in the last 12
months and the increasingly pervasive atmosphere of security that
surrounds us, why on earth aren't they taking the simplest steps to
protect their businesses? I vaguely remember telling my small
daughter a bedtime story, probably Winnie the Pooh, which featured
an "Idiot Trap". "What's an idiot trap?" she asked. "Something to
do with Rabbit, a Pringles can and wireless networks", should have
been my reply.
By the way, the Pringles can acts as a natural collector of
wireless LAN signals. Cheese and onion works best!
Simon Moores column also appears onwww.zentelligence.com
Zentelligence: Setting the world to rights with the collected
thoughts and ramblings of the futurist writer, broadcaster and
Computer Weekly columnist Simon Moores.