Ron Schenone

Wi-Fi Theft At Airports On The Rise

Posted by on Jul 24, 2007 | 6 Comments

Those of us who travel with our laptops must be aware that rogue sites are being set up near major airports trying to steal information off of our laptops and cell phone systems. I was surprised to learn that the BBB conducted an audit at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, and found 20 rogue sites set up to steal travelers’ information.

TheBostonChannel.com article states:

“Most of these networks are not encrypted, don’t have any special security built into them; everything they’re typing into their laptop — passwords, user names — is in the air,” said Michael Maggio, chief executive officer of Newbury Networks.

Thursday, the Better Business Bureau in Eastern Massachusetts issued an alert. It warned travelers who use laptop computers that hackers have been setting up in and around airports fake Wi-Fi networks designed to steal personal files and information.

Some travelers seemed unconcerned since they use their systems for home use only. While others turn off their Wi-Fi while working in an airport. On the good side at busy Logan airport, there have been no reports of data theft thus far. Which when I read this made me think how would a user even know if their data was compromised? There is no big Window pop-up that signals the user that a theft is in progress. :-)

Be careful out there.

Full story here.

Comments welcome.

[tags]airports, wi-fi, dangers, rogue[/tags]

  • http://kylekeeton.com kyle keeton

    Hey Ron,

    I guess we are lucky that 90 % of what people thrown up in the air by Wi-Fi is bull. But that 10 % could be problems.

    Now if it was a Hollywood movie, then when you had data theft . The computer would turn into a tracking device so that you could hunt down the culprit. Then you could use your laptop with its exploding battery, to blow up the bad guys!!

    Don’t you just love it when I stop by to irritate you??

    Kyle

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Kyle,
    Your always welcome here Kyle. . I’m always glad when you stop by and hope you do for a long time. Take care.
    Ron

  • Isaac Ordonez

    While at both SFO and HNL on our last vacation I found Two Ad-Hoc networks created called “Free WiFi”. Same name at both sites. Luckily OS X separates these as “Computer Created Networks” so I knew right off the bat something was up. I think the best way to fight this would be if the airports would actually just provide free WiFi as a service instead of off loading it to T-Mobile and the likes. After getting violated by TSA it would be nice to get something out of it before I get crammed onto a overloaded plane.

    A side note LAV provides great, free WiFi all over the airport, the way it should be.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Isaac,
    Thanks for the information.
    Regards, Ron

  • I-user

    What thrills me is the way, in the name of convenience, when you’re on a legitimate network and the connection is interrupted or lost and you automatically end up on one of these rogue ad-hoc networks without any say on your part. While one may be able to reconfigure their computer to avoid this, the average computer user probably will not or doesn’t know how to do this. It’s kind of like listening to your favorite radio station (non-satellite) and going under an overpass only to hear some foul-mouthed person blaring away on their walkie-talkie taking over your radio broadcast when you come out on the other side.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    I-User,
    Thanks for sharing your experience as well as your comments.
    Ron