War walking around the White House exposes interesting vulnerabilities outside the fence
'm sitting with Richard Rushing, chief security officer of AirDefense, on a stone bench that sits neatly between the White House and the U.S. Treasury Building. As we both look intently at the laptop on Rushing's lap, a three-foot Radio Shack antenna protrudes from his briefcase, pulling in transmissions from both of these carefully-secured national institutions.
Yup, we're "war walking" the White House. We're looking for wireless networks that are open to hack.
As we sit, scanning the IDs of dozens of wireless networks in the area, the shadow of a uniformed White House security officer falls over our screen. He's the first one to notice our antenna, even though we've passed at least eight officers on our walk so far.
Damn, I'm thinking. Now we're in for an hour of police questioning, or maybe worse. I wonder when I'll get home tonight?
