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Hotspots: Staying Safe

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  • 06-09-2008 12:18pm
    #1
    ironclaw
    Registered Users Posts: 8,004 ✭✭✭


    Hotspot: A hotspot is a venue that offers Wi-Fi access to the Internet (Source: Wikipedia)

    Hotspots are growing in Ireland in popularity in Ireland. They are convenient, fast and internet away from home. Most hotel chains, cafés and restaurants now host them. Some are free while others you are charged a small fee per time used. Starbucks, Eircom and McDonalds are probably the biggest in Ireland with BitBuzz and some other comercial outfits in a close second.

    However...

    Hotspots are not secure. Let me repeat that, not secure.

    Imagine being in a big, crowded room. You and your friend are in opposite corners and you wish to have a conversation. Because the room is crowded you need to shout to be heard. As such everyone in the room can hear your conversation.

    Now, imagine you were your laptop and your friend was the wireless router providing the hotspot service. Suddenly, every bit of data you send is visible to anyone with just the most basic of software. (http://www.wireshark.org/) is a prime example, called a "Network Sniffer" it can decode every piece of data being sent over wireless and ethernet network if configured correctly.

    Problem (1): Your data can be seen "in the clear" by anyone. So say good bye to those email passwords and logins.

    Now, again imagine you are back in that room. But this time, a curtain hangs between you and your friend. Suddenly, you arn't quite sure if your talking to you friend anymore.

    This is an example of a "man in the middle attack"

    The idea is simple, a hacker sets up his laptop to act as wireless hotspot. So, when you search for your local hotspot you find an attractive looking site with a payment gateway. Great you say, its cheaper than the other hotspot here. So you enter your credit card details and begin to surf the net.

    Hook, Line and Sinker.

    The hackers hotspot was the payment gateway you just saw. They now have your credit card details and worse, you can do very little to stop them. Most people could not recognise a rogue hotspot if faced with one.

    So what can I do to protect myself?

    1) Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). These programs create a secure tunnel to a remote server, thus any data sent over the hotspot network is unreadable. You and your friend now have a secure cup and wire system, so you can talk without being over heard. Some good systems include: (http://www.iopus.com/iPig/) - iPig

    2) Carefully look at a Hotspots login page. Is the page secure? Does it look authentic? Check the encryption being used when you hand over your email or credit card details If nessisary: Click Start, Run, Type cmd, Then type: tracert www.google.ie, Click Enter.

    Note the amount of "hops" taken to reach Google.ie. Also note the first IP address on the list, it should match the IP address assigned by the DCHP of the hotspot.

    3) Look out for people with laptops that appear to have more than one wireless card. Or if there screen looks like something out of the movies. Some people use Linux as an OS but do be careful if they try to conceal there work.

    Finally, if a Hotspot looks too hot to handle, walk away :)


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