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Government Use of WiFi Not Secure

Posted by samzenpus on from the be-more-secure dept.

Terremoto writes "A Congressional report indicates that the use of WiFi by government agencies is being done with little regard for security. The article says, "Government Accountability Office investigators were able to pick up Wi-Fi signals from outside all of the six agencies they tested, and they were able to find examples of unauthorized activity at all six as well.""

4 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Unauthorized Activity by flood6 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ...they were able to find examples of unauthorized activity at all six as well.

    It wasn't clear in TFA either, but do they mean a little pr0n surfing/p2p going on or active hack attempts were found?

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  2. If this were 2003..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    then there would be no huge issue. But with tools like - Airsnort for Unix, NetStumbler for Windows and MacStumbler for Mac, there is no excuse for this.

    I would consider it to be criminally negligent.

    It is a shame that they allow these agencies to recieve funding or for their IS / IT departments to still have jobs.

    Lets stop talking about Filibusters and start talking National Security

  3. Re:Are there any safe (hardware) protocols? by tildebeast · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the Army we use cisco aironets and Air fortress products. Mostly we use it for ptp access to remote locations. However there is software that can be installed on laptops that allows the client to connect, while out and about in the motorpool. we have tried several times to crack our own system, Each time resulting in failure. We can use a linux box and kissmet, and other nameless tools to crack into the multiple wep keys, but the Air Fortress encryption eludes us. We have not had, any unallowed access to our system in the 7 months we have been in Iraq.

  4. Re:Really? by petecarlson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doubtfull? I have done consultations for comapnies that were having problems accessing their mail server because their computers were connecting to the company next door's APs. It seemed that both companies were using linksys access points... SSID "linksys". The whole time they had been using each others connections and neither had a clue.

    CP