Our modern, wired society often romanticizes going off the grid. Pack-toting hikers bravely venture into areas without electricity or -- gasp! -- cell service, unfortunately inhibiting the posting of that picture-perfect Instagram shot.
In the latest cautionary tale involving the so-called Internet of things, white-hat hackers have devised an attack against network-connected lightbulbs that exposes Wi-Fi passwords to anyone in proximity to one of the LED devices.
It’s important to secure your wireless network with WPA2 encryption and a strong passphrase. But what sorts of attacks are you actually securing it against? Here’s how attackers crack encrypted wireless networks.
This isn’t a “how to crack a wireless network” guide. We’re not here to walk you through the process of compromising a network — we want you to understand how someone might compromise your network.
A few days ago, we had the opportunity to deploy a rogue access point that would steal user credentials using a fake, captive web portal, and provide MITM’d Internet services via 3G. We needed reliability and scalability in our environment as there would potentially be a large amount of, erm….”participants” in this wireless network. We were pretty happy with the result and quickly realized that we had created a new “Kali Linux recipe”. Or in other words, we could create a custom, bootable wireless evil access point image, which could do all sorts of wondrous things.
Covert channels can be used to circumvent system and network policies by establishing communications that have not been considered in the design of the computing system.
Wi-Fi equipment based on the new 802.11ac standard—often called Gigabit Wi-Fi—has been on the market for nearly two years. These products offer greater bandwidth and other improvements over gear based on the older 802.11n specification, but they don’t implement one of the most impressive features of 11ac.
Do you really know how your various friends, relations, acquaintances, and hangers-on plan to use your Internet connection when they drop by and ask for "the Wi-Fi password"? Unlikely—and yet anything that they do illegally through your home network can bring cops to your door with search warrants, asking tough questions about child pornography.
An axiom among network security pros is that you should treat public Wi-Fi hotspots like the cyber equivalent of public bathrooms: a convenience we all use, but only with the requisite hygiene. You wouldn’t share personal items like a toothbrush or razor with others at an office, gym or airport restroom, but too often people broadcast personal information that could be disastrous in the wrong hands over wireless networks where intercepting data is easier than many people realize.
Google Fiber ultra-high-speed Internet access may not be the only new technology service being considered by the company for some 34 U.S. cities. Google also may be considering bringing WiFi service to the cities on its list of areas being considered for Google Fiber.
Google wants the Supreme Court to reverse a decision concluding that the media giant could be held liable for hijacking data on unencrypted Wi-Fi routers via its Street View cars.
The legal flap should concern anybody who uses open Wi-Fi connections in public places like coffee houses and restaurants. That’s because Google claims it is not illegal to intercept data from Wi-Fi signals that are not password protected.
