WI-FI SECURITY Some Advice
 You’re
at the airport waiting for your flight. With time to kill,
you’re thinking of connecting your laptop to the airport's Wi-Fi
to check your office e-mail...do some personal banking...or shop
for a gift for your spouse.
But first, consider this: odds are there’s a hacker nearby, with
his own laptop, attempting to "eavesdrop" on your computer to
obtain personal data that will provide access to your money or
even to your company's sensitive information.
Here's something else to consider: there are 68,000 Wi-Fi "hot
spots" in the U.S. (see the graphic below for the top Wi-Fi
countries), at airports, coffee shops, hotels, bookstores,
schools, and other locations where hundreds or thousands of
people pass through every day. While many of these hot spots
have secure networks, some do not, according to Supervisory
Special Agent Donna Peterson of our Cyber Division. And
connecting to an unsecure network can leave you vulnerable to
attacks from hackers.
How do hackers grab your personal data out of thin air? Agent
Peterson said one of the most common types of attack is this: a
bogus but legitimate-looking Wi-Fi network with a strong signal
is strategically set up in a known hot spot...and the hacker
waits for nearby laptops to connect to it. At that point, your
computer—and all your sensitive information, including user ID,
passwords, credit card numbers, etc.—basically belongs to the
hacker. The intruder can mine your computer for valuable data,
direct you to phony webpages that look like ones you frequent,
and record your every keystroke.
“Another thing to remember,” said Agent Peterson, “is that the
connection between your laptop and the attacker's laptop runs
both ways: while he's taking info from you, you may be
unknowingly downloading viruses, worms, and other malware from
him.”
Businesses that offer free or ad-hoc Wi-Fi often don't know
their networks have been breached. Individual victims usually
don't realize they've been targeted either until it's too late.
That’s why, according to Agent Peterson, there aren't reliable
stats on the number of these breaches, although the FBI does
periodically receive reports on them. It's also very tough to
trace a hack that originates on an open, unsecure network.
Agent Peterson explained that the criminal aspect comes into
play once data taken by the hacker is used to commit a crime. If
the hacker, armed with your personal or corporate information or
access codes, tries to break into a secured network—whether it’s
a case of intrusion, identity theft, bank fraud, theft of
intellectual property, or any other type of crime—then law
enforcement gets involved.
What can you do to protect yourself? Agent’s Peterson’s best
advice is, don’t connect to an unknown Wi-Fi network. But if you
have to, there are some precautions you can take to decrease the
threat:
Make sure your laptop security is up to date, with current
versions of your operating system, web browser, firewalls, and
antivirus and anti-spyware software.
Don't conduct financial transactions or use applications like
e-mail and instant messaging.
Change the default setting on your laptop so you have to
manually select the Wi-Fi network you’re connecting to.
Turn off your laptop's Wi-Fi capabilities when you're not using
them.
For more basic information on computer security, see our How to
Protect Your Computer webpage
http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/protect_online.htm.
Source: FBI |
