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Secret Service Goes War Driving

Posted by michael on from the dirty-job-but-someone-has-to-do-it dept.

JSC writes "Looks like the Secret Service is taking a page from the WarDriving handbook. Your tax dollars at work includes springing for the Pringles can for the antenna."

5 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Check the Lottery by I_am_Rambi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Peterson recently drove down a major Washington street and found over 20 wireless networks, many of which had no security at all. Peterson said his probes are part of good police work, like a patrolman driving through a neighborhood.

    I know of someone who drove downtown in my hometown and picked up many wireless networks. This included 4 laptops with pringle can antennas. Among one of these networks he noticed the name was the state Lottery, thats right, the lottery. As he looked up, he was passing the building for the state lottery. It is interesting to see how many open wireless networks that there are in a town.

    He also informed one company of the open network (he knew the network admin) and immediatly lost his ip for that network.

    Is it illegal to pick up the wireless network as you drive by, if you don't do anything with it? Or is it illegal to pick it up and browse the net or both?

  2. Network Security by Aurelfell · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe this publicity will create some market for a security product to be used for wireless. A lot of companies don't realize that wireless networks allow potential hackers an easy way around a firewall, and as such, there's little demand for a product to prevent such a breach. If the SS can bring that to light with their Pringles can, maybe that will change. And maybe Pringles will get into network hardware too. That'd be ironic.

  3. So how do you secure a wireless LAN? by BinBoy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Stories about wardialing are popping up everywhere now. So how do you prevent unauthorized access to your wireless LAN? I have 128-bit encryption enabled. Is that enough to prevent bandwidth stealing/snooping or is there something else?

  4. The knock on the door metaphor, Fed Style by jerryasher · · Score: 4, Interesting
    How many hacking cases in the past few years have just been for just port scanning -- a knock on the door?

    Peterson recently drove down a major Washington street and found over 20 wireless networks, many of which had no security at all. Peterson said his probes are part of good police work, like a patrolman driving through a neighborhood.

    "I feel it is part of crime prevention to knock on the door," Peterson said.

    So that's what port scans are, just knocking on the door, part of crime prevention, and not malicious in and of itself.

  5. Re:So when the SS does it now it's okay? by possible · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I find it interesting that police officers can drive over the speed limit and run through red lights with their sirens on, but if Joe "gray" hat driver does the same thing, he gets a ticket or goes to jail. Give me a break dude.