Fighting Rogue Access Points At linux.conf.au

Posted by timothy on Tuesday January 24, 2012 @05:22AM from the your-boy-zoolander's-on-the-move dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Last week's linux.conf.au saw the return of the rogue access points. These are Wi-Fi access points which bear the same SSID as official conference hotspots. Often it might be a simple mistake, but sometimes it's more nefarious. To combat the attacks this year, conference organisers installed a Linux-based Wi-Fi 'intrusion prevention and detection system' supplied by sponsor Xirrius." At most conferences I've been to, I'd be grateful just to be able to get on any access point.

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Re:This is a growing problem everywhere .... by Hatta · 2012-01-24 05:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

My co-workers have started asking me, "How do I know if it's safe to connect to a wi-fi hotspot when I'm traveling?" ... and I'm realizing the answer isn't very clear-cut.
The answer is very clear cut. All networks are hostile until proven otherwise. The solution is an encrypted tunnel back to a secure network. VPN or SSH tunneling are both easy to set up and use.

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