Beware of Free Wi-Fi

I'm reporting in from Madrid, where I've ventured for a big international press event being held by Acer. On my way here, I had a brief layover in Chicago at O'Hare Airport. I popped open my notebook to get on Wi-Fi and check e-mail. As usual, my notebook picked up a bunch of open networks with tempting names like "Free Wi-Fi." As usual, I knew to ignore them--they were ad-hoc networks (ie, they originated on other notebooks in the vicinity, not from a router) and clearly fishy, although I didn't know exactly what the story was.

When I did connect to O'Hare's Wi-Fi network, I got something new--a pop-up message warning me to be careful about all those "Free Wi-Fi" networks. Here's the message--sorry that it's small and hard to read:

O'Hare's message seems kinda technical--it talks about SSIDs and open networks and other stuff that you don't really need to know about to use Wi-Fi--but its heart is in the right place, and I was interested to see that these fake hot spots have become a big enough problem to warrant the alert.

Here's a story from our sister publication Computerworld that covers this issue, and provides some good advice about how to protect yourself against it:

I'm still left with questions about all this, though. Lately, I often see three or four of these rogue networks almost everywhere I go where there are a meaningful number of people using notebooks. (Earlier this week at TechCrunch40, I was with a reasonably tech-savvy person who was cheerfully about to connect to a "Free Wi-Fi" network until I told her not to.)

Are there really that many scammers with notebooks out there? Or--and this seems more likely to me--are they unwitting participants with laptops that have been infected by spyware...possibly spyware which uses their notebook to swipe information from yours, then relays it to the scammer's computer?

And do we know what the chances are that your passwords or other confidential information might get stolen if you're misguided enough to connect to a "Free Wi-Fi" network?

Any additional information, educated guesses, or pointers to facts on what's going on here would be appreciated.

And one last note: At this very moment, my notebook sees an ad-hoc network that claims to be provided by OfficeMax. Do they even have OfficeMaxes here in beautiful Madrid?

Comments

Hah! I have a clue. (Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while).

On a new home wireless network (Netgear) a USB adaptor was already installed on the desktop, I plugged in the router, fired up the laptop, and surveyed the SSID's, I found a very strong signal with the "Free Wi-Fi" SSID. Huh? We were in a residential neghborhood. The router was out in the garage, and I expected a low-speed connection from it. Poking around XP "zero config" on the laptop, i discovered that it was an ad-hoc network. That prompted me to do what I always do, and change windows to accept access point network connections only.

I plugged the laptop into the router and found that it wasn't doing any wireless at all until setup, so I ran the configuration and got it up.

If I were a IT security Pro, I would be yelling at Netgear for the USB adaptors' rediculous default SSID being broadcast, and the folks at Microsoft for a less secure default of accepting Ad-Hoc connections.

Jim A.

jja8004

September 24, 2007

9:09 PM PT

I have come across these ad hoc networks as well. As you point out, I have wondered if unsuspecting laptops are being used without users knowing about it.

Be sure of what you are connecting to, and if it is free, be casting a way eye. Most airports are charging for these connections so anything free is undoubtedly some kind of scam, especially if it is coming from another notebook.

http://www.rasmussen.edu/net/blog/Blogs.aspx?id=14

jimmccormick

October 01, 2007

1:03 PM PT