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Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Mar-a-Lago (alternet.org)
MrCreosote writes: Properties owned and run by the Trump Organization, including places where Trump spends much of his time and has hosted foreign leaders, are a network security nightmare. From a report via ProPublica (co-published with Gizmodo): "We parked a 17-foot motor boat in a lagoon about 800 feet from the back lawn of The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and pointed a 2-foot wireless antenna that resembled a potato gun toward the club. Within a minute, we spotted three weakly encrypted Wi-Fi networks. We could have hacked them in less than five minutes, but we refrained. A few days later, we drove through the grounds of the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with the same antenna and aimed it at the clubhouse. We identified two open Wi-Fi networks that anyone could join without a password. We resisted the temptation. We have also visited two of President Donald Trump's other family-run retreats, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., and a golf club in Sterling, Virginia. Our inspections found weak and open Wi-Fi networks, wireless printers without passwords, servers with outdated and vulnerable software, and unencrypted login pages to back-end databases containing sensitive information. The risks posed by the lax security, experts say, go well beyond simple digital snooping. Sophisticated attackers could take advantage of vulnerabilities in the Wi-Fi networks to take over devices like computers or smart phones and use them to record conversations involving anyone on the premises."
Trump just wants to make sure that everyone can see we have the best cyber.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
But heaven forbid, should he be mislead into using a personal email server no one tells him isn't locked down properly.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Now. Show me that you were able to do more than break into the equivalent of Starbucks public network.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
In other words, you know that violating the CFAA has draconian penalties and you want some stupid script kiddie to take the risk for you....
Really? You would secure a public network? This is like Starbucks or any hotel public access network. It's not meant for secure communications. Anybody going there probably connects via a company supplied and supported VPN anyway.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
There is open wifi everywhere. Most businesses that host customers have them. Mar-a-lago is a country club. What does webcams and microphones have to do with Wifi? What planet do you live on?
Most hotels in the US now seem to provide wifi. In my experience it is secured by either an easily available password or a login page. Many guests expect easy to use wifi.
In such circumstances is it possible to have secure wifi?
How does it mean anything? This is a public network.
If it was just some golf club it wouldn't. This isn't just some golf club anymore though is it. The open ones might be public but that's not to say anything about all the other security issues identified.
Wanna buy a shirt?
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They did not connect to the unprotected networks (i.e. networks that are open, by design). They also did not connect to the weakly protected networks (which would have been illegal, but their point was that hackers and foreign governments could easily access them).
#DeleteFacebook
It's not about building a VPN back to your secure network. it is about someone sitting outside Mar a Lago and controlling a computer near a table that Trump is talking to the Japanese Prime Minister at and listening/watching in on the conversation, or knowing who is a guest there.
I have a feeling you will be intercepted and detained if you try this during a Trump visit.
The exclusion zone for boats, cars and aircraft is pretty invasive and I believe their choice of locations would be off limits.
Then there is the whole, what did you actually hack into? A lightly defended public WiFi network where the WEP key is on a sign in the lobby? Heck, even the Point of Sale and reservations systems? How's that an issue for national security? It's not like we don't already know when Trump is there and when he's not... What else you got? The ability to charge Trump's room for some pay-per-view movie? Yea that might embarrass him I guess...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
People connect they're phones to public WiFi hotspots. Their phones have cameras and microphones. Checkmate!
(Seriously, though, I'm just as confused as you. There's no reason to think these places would put security systems on the public WiFi network.)
Dumb news organization admits it broke the law!
Did they? I don't know the specifics of the law in regards to WiFi, but this seems(according to the first half of TFS) no different than someone turning on their laptop in the parking lot of a hotel and noticing that the hotel is one network that they could potentially log onto w/o encryption.
That being said, if that's all they did, then it also doesn't prove one way or the other how secure it is. Most resorts and such have public WiFi. Many don't require any log on at all. As long as all they can do is access the internet and no internal systems, it's working as intended. I've stayed in places that also have unsecured printers outside of the regular network for guests to use.
Our inspections found weak and open Wi-Fi networks, wireless printers without passwords, servers with outdated and vulnerable software, and unencrypted login pages to back-end databases containing sensitive information.
Open WiFi and printers are to be expected for guests to use, as long as they are on a separate network from anything that's not intended to be public. The rest of this statement contradicts the previous statement of:
We resisted the temptation.
Either they did log onto the network and were doing some snooping (in which case they may have broken the law), or they didn't and made this up.
There is open wifi everywhere. Most businesses that host customers have them. Mar-a-lago is a country club. What does webcams and microphones have to do with Wifi? What planet do you live on?
Mar-a-lago isn't just a country club anymore though is it. Open networks aside, they probably just gobble up whatever they can of whatever connects to them. The rest of the piss poor security at the president's personal retreat filled with a bunch of the richest and most powerful people in the country though? It's a wonder the security is anything less than water tight. Would the same standards be acceptable at the white house? It's just another home office after all. Unless the whole thing is one giant honey trap and they have a second secret network that has all the good stuff on it of course.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
and read the sign that says "This month's WiFi Password is GOLF". It's a country club. They assume you belong there, unless you don't look like you belong there. What is the point of securing a network that has a publicly available password?
Yes it is "just a country club". The real question you should be asking is should such a place be used for business that needs to remain secret? No governmental official should be conducting sensitive business in their home office or anywhere else.
We resisted the temptation.
Either they did log onto the network and were doing some snooping (in which case they may have broken the law), or they didn't and made this up.
Or, another thing they could have done, is idly listen to the network, and notice that there was printer communication on the network.
Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
1. Was this done with written permission from the network owner? If not, you opened yourself up to legal action by the network owner if they choose to pursue it.
Listening to SSID broadcast is hardly illegal.
Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
They went all James Bond on folks and pointed their " hacker-antenna " at the building and found weak or unprotected access points.
And ?
Guest access is typically open access which would explain the latter pretty quickly.
Weak access could be any number of networks, but not necessarily one that would be useful to anyone.
I swear, the media is going full Autistic when it comes to trying to destroy EVERYTHING that is Donald Trump. If the information is negative, or can be spun into a negative light, they are making sure the entire world hears about it. 24/7 Regardless if there is any truth to it or not.
Lots and lots of rumors, " secret sources ", and whatnot, but not a shred of concrete evidence.
WTF has happened to journalistic integrity ?
"Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Pretty Much Any Hotel, Coffee Shop or Car Dealership In The Country Because Their Networks Are Set Up By Someone Who Has No Clue About Security."
FTFY
I hope nobody here thinks that this is a Trump-exclusive. He's in really good company, the more exclusive and elitist a club or establishment, the more likely their non-physical security sucks big time. Why? Same reason as everywhere, nobody who could sensibly demand it knows jack shit about it, so why bother throwing money at it? Worse, securing something invariably cuts into its usability. I'm actually surprised those access points had any kind of security. None of the oh-so-important people complained yet that they're too stupid to configure their toy to connect? Oh, sorry, let me rephrase it: None of them complained yet that you idiots cannot configure your computer thingie right so their expensive and highly intelligent device can connect to it? Because MY thing was expensive and it's very high tech, so if it doesn't work, it OBVIOUSLY has to be that you're too stupid to configure YOUR end!
This is basically why security sucks in such places. Not the physical, mind you. But IT security usually is a mess. And as long as there are computer illiterates who dictate what has to be and what must not be, this also will not change.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This comment will be a long way down the page. At time of writing, there are several comments above all modded to 4/5 saying "hotels have open wifi". Well done.
Did no one read "wireless printers without passwords, servers with outdated and vulnerable software, and unencrypted login pages to back-end databases containing sensitive information" ? Clearly the mods didn't read it any more than the commenters.
Whilst I agree it's a bit of a thin piece, the places where the president goes for 'private stuff' matter. If he's doing a press day talking to kids in school or whatever, then there's no benefit hacking a printer to listen in to what he says. However, when he's hosting someone and playing a friendly round of golf and hanging out in the clubhouse as if the two of them are just two guys and not heads of state - then all of a sudden stuff like open wifi and hackable printers and servers starts to matter a lot more. I have no idea if all that stuff gets switched off when the place gets 'secured' though - knowing that would have made this article a lot more useful.
Most resorts and such have public WiFi.
Most resorts are not used by the President of the United States to conduct his business.
Why would the Russians care? They get invited to the White House to receive the classified information they want - no need for hacking.
Why is the President of the United States conducting business at a public resort?
For the same reason he has international meetings and talks about air strikes in between the main course and dessert in the completely open and unvetted surroundings of the maralago public dining room.
Because he's a venal moron who wants government money to come directly to him.
Because he's an arrogant prick who thinks that he can do whatever he wants without consequences.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
"We parked a 17-foot motor boat in a lagoon about 800 feet from the back lawn of The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and pointed a 2-foot wireless antenna that resembled a potato gun toward the club."
All joking aside, this is an excellent way to get shot. Do not point anything that looks like a 2 foot cannon at the secret service.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
You make a pretty significant assumption that he uses the same network thats configured for use by any schmoe that is at the resort. You also assume that the whole network is not layered and secured appropriately for the level of business being conducted.
This article is itself a rather glaring misdirection, giving limited information in the context of it being all inclusive of the resort's security posture. It's like saying that because every reputable hotel in the world has freely accessible wifi that all hotel chains are easily hackable to their core. This is a hack job of a "report" done with blatantly biased slant and omission of detail.
This is the equivalent of saying that because there are 1000's of US Government websites that face the public domain on port 80 that the federal government as a whole is ripe for intrusion.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
Yeah TFA is shit. You'd like to think there is an actual secure network that wouldn't even be detectable by their methods, but this is Trump so you can't take it for granted.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
You don't become a billionaire (or whatever he is) by tipping your hand to your competitors. You don't make enemies along the way either, who'd love to air your dirty laundry or destroy your reputation, or harm you business in a variety of other ways. With the volume of people that Trump and his empire have stomped on over a period of decades you don't think he's learned to be paranoid? If he hadn't there'd be tons of stories about him to present that the press would be creaming their shorts over just trying to decide which to release first.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
So they didn't access a network so they didn't know what it contains. What's the threat again?
I'm currently sitting in a hotel posting this. The WiFi has WEP encryption. WEP of all things. Hack away, you can't get me. I'm not even on the damn thing. The 4G I get is faster.
For all we know it's a frigging honeypot. Until anyone connects to it and downloads Trump's naked selfies this article is all alarmist title and nothing of substance.
This whole story screams spin to me, by simple omission of critical details and wording. Humans tend to fill in the blanks with their imaginations. Note that the article states only that they "found 3 weakly encrypted WLANs". Not a word on what other WLANs they may have found (or maybe couldn't detect). So why assume the 3 that they mentioned that they found are the **only** 3 WLANs that they actually found? This article is likely a half-truth, made to create a particular impression. "Hey, we detected 5 WLANs at Mar-a-lago, but look, 3 of them are a security joke! Let's harp on that. " People are going way out of their way to bash Trump with glee, so this seems not at all improbable.
They don't say anything like, "all of the WLANs we found were insecure", or even, "all three WLANS we could detect were insecure", nor do they say, "3 out of the 4 WLANS we found were weakly encrypted" either. This is vague-speak.
Obviously, there are going to be a few normal consumer grade WLANs there, it's a freaking public resort, first and foremost. It's also possible that Trump doesn't use the wireless at all if he's conducting business there, it seems likely his WH security people would recommend using cabled LAN only. He may not be that tech saavy, but the staff should be.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
I've done work for two "exclusive" old-money country clubs in my city and both of them are cheap as hell. The members have all the money in the world when it comes to the damn golf course, but IT is dead last on spending.
One of the clubs had to resort to screwing framed pictures to the wall in some areas of the club because members had been caught "borrowing" pictures to display at home. The expensive floral arrangements had to be hidden until after the regular ladies' bridge game because the "ladies" would either take the arrangements completely or create a "take home" arrangement with a big chunk of the flowers. Food, booze, cans of pop, etc. have to be kept under lock and key or under the watch of an employee, at both clubs members were caught literally loading their trunk with cases of stuff.
Members routinely call up and challenge their food and beverage bills, demanding that drink orders and entire meals be refunded because of errors in billing or complaints about the quality of the food. The AR employee tells me that one member in particular demands refunds every month, picking out the most expensive meals on her bill and claiming "these meals were unsatisfactory and I won't pay for them."
IT spending of course suffers. When we put together upgrade proposals (for amounts totaling maybe $20-30k), we occasionally have to meet with board members who present "Google shopping" lists of prices from unknown vendors (likely selling grey market or unlabeled refurbs) and explain why our prices "are so high."
It is no surprise to me that club IT sucks, because club management sucks and members don't want to pay for anything.
You're considering the wrong issue. It's not about what visitors might transmit over those networks (which don't appear to be for visitor use in the first place), but the records stored within. There is literally no way a VPN is relevant here.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
They did not connect...
Then how did they determine that the "back-end databases contain[ed] sensitive information?" Either they broke your CFAA, or this is speculation.
Because information that would not be sensitive if it relates to an average person or business is sensitive when it relates to the office of the President of the United States.
Things like location and movements of regular people are merely a privacy concern, not a security concern, but movements of people who work for or are meeting with the President of the United States are important secrets. Whatever backend services are connected to the hotspots, they contain sensitive information relating to national security! That's true even if it is just for off-hours internet access. Just having people connected in some way to the office of the President walking in range of a hotspot with electronics in their pocket could be a risk, even if they aren't "connecting" intentionally to any network.
Why is the President of the United States conducting business at a public resort?
For PR, because he owns it.
Also, most of the foreign workers that accompany delegations are used to corruption and they know to be seen spending lots of money at the President's business. Nobody has to ask for anything, or ask to get anything. It isn't a bribe, it is just curry.