Mass wireless communication has changed the world and will continue to do so in the future. But it also opens up a range of security problems that many people simply do not understand.

Here at 3GSM everyone who is anyone in the mobile sphere is meeting, greeting and showing their wares. You'd think that the mobile elite would be security conscious but, sadly, this is not the case. They are just as fallible as the novice computer user.

Wandering around the halls with a simple scanner attached to my laptop I found unsecured wireless networks and plenty of open Bluetooth connections from phones and PDAs.

Other networks could be cracked using freely available applications or simple common sense. The first thing a hacker will try is the default passwords on a wireless portal and in this case they'd be in luck.

By Iain Thomson at vnunet.

[ Read more ]

Related items

• Article: Increasing Security Awareness: Visualizing WEP Insecurity (3 March 2004)
• Article: Interview with Jon Edney, author of "Real 802.11 Security" (18 December 2003)
• Review: Wireless Hacks (12 December 2003)
• Review: Real 802.11 Security: Wi-Fi Protected Access and 802.11i (3 November 2003)
• Review: 802.11 Security (3 October 2003)
• Article: Wireless Security: Preventing Your Data From Vanishing Into Thin Air (16 September 2003)
• Review: Installing, Troubleshooting, and Repairing Wireless Networks (5 September 2003)
• Review: Building Secure Wireless Networks with 802.11 (28 August 2003)
• Review: How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN (22 August 2003)
• Article: Lack of Security at Wireless Conferences (6 August 2003)
• Review: WiFi Security (9 July 2003)
• Review: Wireless Security End to End (4 June 2003)
• Review: The Complete Wireless Internet and Mobile Business Programming Training Course (28 May 2003)
• Review: Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks (14 May 2003)
• Article: Positive Identification in a Wireless World (6 May 2003)
• Article: Warchalking and Other Wireless Worries (3 April 2003)
• Article: How to Make Wireless Networks Secure (26 March 2003)
• Article: Interview with Cyrus Peikari, CEO of AirScanner Mobile Security (24 February 2003)
• Review: Maximum Wireless Security (17 February 2003)
• Article: Detecting Wireless LAN MAC Address Spoofing (22 January 2003)
• Article: Avoid Wireless LAN Security Pitfalls (17 January 2003)
• Article: Interview with Jay Chaudhry, CEO of AirDefense (7 January 2003)
• Review: Wireless Security and Privacy: Best Practices and Design Techniques (17 December 2002)