Source : http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,105495,00.html?
TALK is in the air that broadband surfing is cheaper than ever now, with one company asking for just below $23 monthly.
But here's the rub.
With so many people already on the wireless broadband bandwagon, you can actually just pluck the Internet bandwidth out of the air without paying a cent.
The New Paper on Sunday did a random check around Singapore, and found we could connect freely to the Internet nearly everywhere that we went, including at housing estates in Bishan, Toa Payoh, Clementi, Balestier and Ang Mo Kio.
And we did not even need to go to McDonalds or shopping centres like Funan The IT Mall where free wireless access is officially dished out.
We were surfing cyberspace at full broadband speeds in HDB void decks or outside the gates of condominums!
In just three years, Wireless Internet (or WiFi) networks have mushroomed all over Singapore's residential and business landscape.
This came about because of steep price drops in wireless routers, or devices that allow computers to connect to the Web without cables.
Such WiFi routers can be bought for less than $100, and are easy to set up.
They can transmit a wireless radio signal that goes through most walls and cover a radius of 50m or more.
Fuelling the sales of such routers is the fact that all new laptops sold in the past two years come with WiFi capability.
This has meant greater convenience to computer users and, unwittingly, their neighbours too.
During our checks for 'free' wireless surfing at housing estates for this report, we found that sometimes the signal was so strong that one could even log in while seated at the hawker centres.
Most of the networks detected were locked by passwords to prevent strangers from 'stealing' the bandwidth easily.
Still, there would always be at least one WiFi network in each of the 15 HDB and private apartment blocks we visited that we could have plugged into anonymously.
One need not be an IT specialist to do this. The Windows software will automatically sniff out an unsecured network and try to connect automatically.
Sometimes, strangers could also log into some 'secured' wireless networks.
This is because some people do not bother to change the default name and password on their routers, and other users could just use their own default password to get in.
Once you are on a wireless network, you can do anything that you usually do online.
You can access office e-mail, download files and do instant messaging with colleagues.
So imagine the threat posed to your network if a hacker could also gain similar access.
According to Mr Aloysius Cheang, president of local security group SIG2, hackers can exploit this to scan the network for vulnerable computers to hack into.
But not all network 'leeches' are out to cause harm.
Some like Mr Ronald Low (not his real name), 29, steal bandwidth because they do not want to fork out for broadband access.
Said the engineer: 'I normally use dial-up (Internet access) at home, but I often check to see if my neighbour has switched on his wireless router.
'If he has, I can surf websites at several times the slow dial-up speed at no extra cost.
'Is it a crime? I am not hacking into his computer and he did not secure his wireless network anyway. As far as I am concerned, it's a free-for-all.'
But according to Keystone Law Corporation lawyer Bryan Tan, such acts are considered illegal under the Telecommunications Act.
PENALTY
Anyone who dishonestly uses any telecommunication service without intending to pay for it can be fined up to $10,000 and jailed for a maximum of three years.
And under the Computer Misuse Act, unauthorised access into computers on networks carries a first-time penalty of up to $5,000 fine and two years jail.
Said Mr Tan: 'Clearly the risks have been recognised and the laws have been put in place. The law has been enforced in the case of cloned pagers and handphones.
'The question is: Is stealing wireless bandwidth a serious enough concern for the authorities to act on it?'
'So far, nobody has been prosecuted for this... and people will continue along this path until someone gets caught.'
Thieves can be traced
UNKNOWN to many bandwidth thieves, they cannot remain invisible on a wireless network.
Said Mr Thomas Ee, senior vice-president of Internet Protocol services at StarHub:
'Anyone who steals the wireless connection of others can be detected by the authorities during an investigation.
'For example, he can be traced via the MAC address of his network card.
'As for users who do not protect their wireless connection, it is like leaving the door of their house open, making them vulnerable to theft.'
Click to see larger image
As more WiFi networks bloom across the country, you can unwittingly become a bandwidth leech even if you have your own WiFi.
Said Mr Tan: 'Many of us live very close to one another.
'If you have a neighbour who has a powerful wireless router, your computer may lock on to his (Wifi) signal instead of your own router.'
So how do I stop bandwidth theft?
Here are some wireless security tips from Mr Sanjeev Gupta, the regional sales director for wireless equipment maker Linksys.
1. Stop broadcasting the existence of your wireless network
All Wifi networks need to have a name, otherwise known as the Service Set Identifier (SSID). Examples are 'Linksys', 'Motorola' or the brand name of the wireless router.
You should always change the SSID name from the default one, and then disallow the router from shouting to the world the SSID name.
2. Change the router password
Hackers can lock you out of your own WiFi network! Most wireless routers require a password like 'admin' in order to change the security settings. If you do not change this password, hackers can take over your WiFi access easily.
3. Scramble the signals
WiFi routers come with the ability to scramble (or encrypt) the wireless signals over the air. You can choose to use encryption methods like Wired Equivalency Protocol (WEP) and WiFi Protected Access (WPA). The latter is the more powerful encryption method.
4. Check the MACs
A cumbersome but effective method of locking down your WiFi network is to restrict access to specific devices. All WiFi devices (laptops, some PDAs, high-end handphones) have a Media Access Control (MAC) number which is unique. Once you specify which MAC addresses are allowed to access the network, all other devices will be locked out.
