The Dangers Of Ad-Hoc Wireless Networking
Most people who have wireless Ethernet at home, or the office, connect to the wireless network by attaching to a wireless Access Point, or AP. This method of wireless networking is called "Infrastructure Mode". If you have a secure wireless network configured in "Infrastructure Mode" you are using MAC address filtering, some level of encryption, and have made some additional changes to your AP in order to prevent just anyone from using it or capturing data.
However, for those who are not using "Infrastructure Mode", and are configured to communicate from machine to machine, or "Ad-Hoc", there are a few things you should be aware of.
A wireless Ad-Hoc network allows you to communicate with other wireless Ethernet systems without using a wireless access point. It's kind of a peer to peer configuration and it works rather well. The problem is, most people just set it up, and forget about it. At home, it's not a huge problem, but when your on the road, it could cause you a great deal of grief. The airport is probably the best place to find Ad-Hoc networks. Business men and women, delayed once again, power up their laptops and get to work completing the days tasks, or planning tomorrows agendas.
