The dangers of Wireless@SG.
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From my experience, I've seen that some Wireless@SG public wireless hotspots are unprotected and have no form of encryption whatsoever.
These vulnerable hotspots have the potential to be hijacked easily.
This news article about public Wi-Fi hotspots in London shows the level of protection offered by some public wireless hotspots.
http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=9041&pagtype=all
I'd like to see how many of these hotspots have encryption turned on. Transmitting your data over a unencrypted wireless connection allows hackers to sniff your personal information.
AirPcap is available for purchase:
http://www.cacetech.com/products/index.htm -
I won't use wireless@sg to do critical things like online banking or buying things online with a credit card one lar.
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me oni use w@sg to surf forums and ban ppl nia.
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Good for you, ditzy.
Just brought this matter up to increase people's awareness of such issues.
Wireless@SG still has a long way to go. -
PuTTY or use Hamachi as your VPN.
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Originally posted by FireIce:me oni use w@sg to surf forums and ban ppl nia.
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I sign up just to get the free ip cam...
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What if the hackers manage to get your password and wreak havoc on the forums?Originally posted by FireIce:me oni use w@sg to surf forums and ban ppl nia. -
use mac with firewall.
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if there is a hack. i think i would be one of many who will be hacked
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Think there is a misconception here...
Using Wireless@SG is as secure, or should I say, as insecure as using your broadband connection at home.
When you access your Internet Banking site, for example, your link to the bank servers is through the Internet via your ISP. So what make you think that there is no one is sniffing your traffic in between? So what is the difference if Wireless@SG traffic is not encrypted?
That is why secure sites like Internet Banking provides SSL, a link encryption layer to prevent information like userid/password and your banking information from being sniff. As the encryption is at the link layer, it does not matter that traffic over Wireless@SG is not encrypted. Anyone sniffing the wireless traffic will still not be able to see the encrypted SSL traffic.
As long as you are using Internet, just assume that someone can sniff the traffic in and out if it is not encrypted using SSL for example.
Having said that, whether you are connected over Wireless@SG or at home, keep your laptop secured by ensuring you have the latest Anti Virus signature and you have patched up any vulnerabilites reported by Microsoft or Apple. -
SSL doesn't encrypt your data when it is still on your computer. It only encrypts the data while it is traveling to the other party, for example, the bank.
Most sniffers work because they try to sniff the packets while they are being transmitted, so SSL defeats that.
But if a man-in-the-middle attack happens, it's as good as having no encryption. That's because such attacks first route the packets to the attacker, then to the intended party, pretending as if nothing has happened. In this case, all packets are not encrypted and will be in the clear. -
the bad side of wireless lan..
low security