Wireless security risk highlighted in student project
New Zealand wireless network users might be exposing themselves to an invasion. With the growing use of wireless networking technology comes an increasing opportunity for security breaches if people don’t put precautionary measures in place. An informal survey of homes and businesses in Palmerston North that identified 176 wireless networks found only about a quarter had security measures in place. “I was really surprised,” says fourth-year Bachelor of Engineering student Gladwin Mendez. “I didn’t think it (the number of users without security) would be that high.” Determining who has wireless connections and who has security in place is easy and is a common practice elsewhere in the world dubbed ‘war-driving’. Mr Mendez attached an external aerial to his car, hooked it up to a laptop with a GPS attached and drove around town. 200km and quite a few hours later he had identified 176 separate wireless networks and where they were located. He also found he had the option of accessing files, which may include confidential company information, of some local businesses. “As soon as I realised I could access that sort of information, I exited the system.” When he realised he could access the files of a large Palmerston North business, he stopped the car and went straight in to tell the network manager about the security risk. He was offered a job on the spot to fix the problem. Most people aren’t aware of the issue, says Mr Mendez. They buy a new technology or piece of equipment, plug it in and if it works leave it alone because they are ‘scared’ to configure setting. Yet vendors point out in instruction manuals that users should change their password and turn on the encryption option. Protecting personal and important business files might be as simple as that. “New Zealanders are also very trusting,” says Mr Mendez’s supervisor Firas Al-Ali. “They haven’t experienced the security breaches seen elsewhere in the world and generally believe people will act ethically,” he says. The world average of people using wireless networking who use encryption services is approximately 31 percent. Mr Mendez undertook the survey as part of his fourth-year computer systems engineering project. It was the final stages of what began as a desire to be able to share files with his mates in two nearby flats. The available ADSL land-line services were too slow and couldn’t handle the amount of information he wanted to be able to share so he decided to set up what is known as an extended personal wireless computer network. The equipment required to build a network is available off the shelf. The challenge was to integrate the equipment and software purchased from different suppliers to achieve his objective within acceptable standards. Mr Al-Ali and Mr Punchihewa say as a learning experience the project made Mr Mendez work out a practical way to integrate the products, theoretical concepts and principles he learnt during his course. He also proposed and developed an approach to extend the range of the wireless connection by reducing the loss of power of the signal as it travelled over distance.
Reproduced from an article published by Massey University News
© Massey University News
The original article can be viewed here:
http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/2004/Press_Releases/10_06_04.html
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