Erica Gregan manages 13 cafes across Sydney but she's aware of her blind spots. "I do coffee - that's what I know," she says from the company's Wi-Fi-enabled outlet at CarriageWorks in Redfern.
The online security of her company and customers, however, is left to an expert. GG espresso - operated with her husband, George - has offered internet access for about five years and the business has benefited, especially from repeat visits.
Google has relaxed its opposition to European regulators and will hand over the open wireless network data it collected from its Street View cars over the past three years.
Google's chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, told The Financial Times the company would share the data collected with regulators in Germany, Spain, France and Italy. It is suspected the data contained personal information including e-mails and bank account numbers.
The New York Times and Financial Times reported that Google missed a Wednesday deadline to turn over the data it collected from unsecured Wi-Fi networks by its Street View cars, a practice which Google has said was done inadvertently but has raised the hackles of critics and privacy advocates. Google did provide German authorities with a written explanation of how the incident occurred, according to the AP, but it's declining to provide the actual data citing, of all things, data protection laws.
When you’re reading up on Wi-Fi security, you’ll find many different interpretations and opinions. One might say disabling SSID broadcasting will hide your network, while others might say it just draws hackers into an easy job. Some might think WPA encryption is cracked, while others say it’s secure. Here we look at each myth and tell you whether it's verified--or busted.
Researchers from the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, have developed proof-of-concept implementations of a scheme that exploits unencrypted wireless connections to blast PCs with ads.
In a paper on 9 March, the researchers described how the adware—dubbed Typhoid—convinces laptops to communicate with it as opposed to a legitimate access point. Next, the adware inserts its advertisements in videos and Web pages on other computers.
Is your wireless network password protected? If you live in Germany and the answer is no, you could be facing a hefty fine. According to a ZDnet blog, a recent ruling by Germany’s top criminal court determined those who leave a wireless network unprotected can be fined as much as 100 euros or roughly $127 dollars.
Is this Google's worst nightmare?
If you listen to conspiracy theories the tech giant is regularly accused of secretly collecting our data for nefarious purposes, something Google has long denied - until now.
Google Australia will today be sent a "please explain" letter from two local privacy organisations demanding to know why the company has been collecting personal Wi-Fi network data from Australian homes alongside the images it takes with its Street View cameras.
The letter comes in response to recent reports that the company has been quietly collecting Wi-Fi data around the world when taking pictures of streets and houses for its mapping service.
The WRT54GL is a hacker's dream Wi-Fi router, capable of running third-party firmware and upping its signal power internally. A brave Instructables user shows how to go whole-hog on the blue box with extended antennas, fan-cooled overclocking, and the DD-WRT interface.
Concern is rising about the amount of information that Google and other organizations are collecting about wireless local area networks (WLAN). The latest news from experts brings little comfort: it's impossible to make your own wireless network completely invisible to others.
All network-ready devices possess a unique identifier. "That's the MAC address. And the WLAN router transmits it constantly," explains Juergen Kuri from German computer magazine c't. The MAC address is necessary for network-capable devices to be able to communicate with each other at all.
