This is a short story about using a couple of computers, some interesting tools, an operating system and a bit of thinking to solve a not-entirely-artificial problem of getting wireless internet access where measures are in place to stop it. Both the technical side as well as some of the reasoning behind the actions are explained.
Case of a wireless hack
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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yea, i dont have broadband at home but I sure have it at my disposal… So Sweeeeeet
Wireless is insecure – PERIOD!
If anyone is in Dublin, VA then there is a SUPER nice spot, near the little ceasers… nnot sure whose connection but it is NICE!
From a security standpoint it is an interesting way to “get in” but I would be careful. Some states (Virginia) for example has the Super Digital Millenium Copyright Act or Super DMCA, and the provision for “communications service” is loosely written and can be equally loosely interpreted in court. In other words if you get caught “stealing” wireless Internet access you could be charged and arrested under some states (including Virginia’s) Super DMCA if the place that has the wireless access catches you in the act or finds out through other means.
Although to the best of my knowledge nobody has been charged, I would not want to test the waters.
most often, icmp is prohibited
then i use DNS tunnels. It works like a charm. It’s only dead slow
I guess the code of existing apps (nstx, ozymandns) can be further optimized (as well as openssh’s compression) to get very correct results
hei, Siim. I’m also wondering about the legal consequences of doing that here in estonia. We don’t have any DMCA like in USA but still…maybe somebody from tallinn technical university administrative department is reading your story too.
wireless is insecure. just imagine that a nasty trojan get infected on your pc and…its game over
I’ve been running an open accesspoint for others to use for over three years and never had any problems with hacking. The reason is very simple: it is open!
The security industry keeps feeding us FUD to sell their products but inspite of that it has become pretty much etiquette to leave your accesspoint open for others to use just like you would expect to find open access points to use when you are on the road. This is a very nice thing and in fact there are free open community networks popping up everywhere so the future of wireless is definitely free and open.
I’ve kept my wireless accesspoint open for the past two years and have not had any incidents, hacking or otherwise.
However, I do keep a close eye on what goes on. Remember, free and open doesn’t mean that it’s not subject to being monitored.
Something to think about if you intend to do something illegal or your using personal information on that connection.
Remember the old 49MHz cordless phones? They were easily intercepted with a radio scanner (before the Telcom Act of 1986 – now it’s illegal to intercept those conversations) and you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff we used to hear!
You never know who may be listening…
I guess the only problem with leaving your AP open is that if someone decides to download music or movies via peer to peer or child porn, your the one who is going to be left holding the legal bag. To me its just not worth the hassle.
It seems like my ISP’s DNS cannot find it….
It has already happened:
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7514
Here is the original link…
http://neworder.box.sk/newsread.php?newsid=13688
Damn you for getting excited, I was about to throw the lappy and the car charger in the car for a night of leeching when I saw the “VA” after Dublin.
As it is, in the -real- Dublin theres some nice >10Mbit links sitting open…
“The security industry keeps feeding us FUD to sell their products but inspite of that it has become pretty much etiquette to leave your accesspoint open for others to use just like you would expect to find open access points to use when you are on the road. This is a very nice thing and in fact there are free open community networks popping up everywhere so the future of wireless is definitely free and open.”
It’s alarming to read this. What part of the country are you from? In AZ, identity theft and fraud are at an all time high. leaving wireless wide open is asking for trouble. It also leaves you wide open for liability for illegal activities, as was mentioned.
It’s certainly not “etiquette” here to leave it wide open.
I have an open access point, but I have users sign up and authenticate. i have a AUP and a proxy server enabled to keep all traffic monitored. I at least keep records…just to cover my ass.
i wonder if that mac spoof would work on a pay-to-use access point to
10megs… good lord, i thought the one in dublin, VA
was sweet since I figure it is the 3meg everyone is pushing here! The cool thing is that at least for a while the local phone company (rhymes with horizon) was handing out wireless DSL “modems” for new installs…
got my choice to choose from now!
This guy Securitymonkey writes security short stories based on real cases here:
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/security/investigator
GOOD stuff.
I’m not trying to be pickey but why the two “#includes” that have no function anyway?
I wondered about the same thing myself. I think it is a code-to-HTML problem.