Toronto, The Naked City

PunWork writes "In an effort to promote wireless network security, Toronto consulting firm IpEverywhere (pun intended) has published a map of downtown Toronto, showing the location of both encrypted and unencrypted ('naked') wireless networks. Is this going to help spread awareness, or is this just going to encourage people to abuse the (apparently) ignorant? The Toronto Star has a story about the map and the consulting firm here."

Comments

Computer viruses go airborne

[jhines0042]

People get viruses delivered the their computers via email, the net, etc...

What is to stop viruses now becoming "airborne" and people who use an open wireless network unwittingly picking them up or (knowingly or unknowingly) transmitting them into open wireless networks?

Surely most people who wardrive would be smart enough to avoid them through various means... but most people who use computers are fairly clueless about security and virus protection.

Any known cases of wifi virus infection?

Yay, more drive-by spam.

[EvilAlien]

All we need is more drive-by spam.

Thats right, the scum of the network are taking advantage of open wireless networks, whether they are chalked or grabbed off online maps such as net stumbler dot com. The rise of drive-by hacking is a natural by-product of the wardriving/chalking community, and it would be naive to considering this a surprising development. Highjacking an open wireless network is only the smart thing to do for hackers whether they are after data or just a spamming platform.

This puts the pressure on network administrators to secure their wireless networks. It is far easier to drive by a NAP and jack in, and the proliferation of wireless networks could obsolete physical intrusion techniques such as connecting a Dreamcast or iPAQ to an internal network. Tools for wardriving are readily available, such as THC-warDrive. A lazy or incompetant network administrator makes it easy for a kid with the parents car, a pringles can, and a laptop.