| How To Steal Wi-Fi - And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours. By Paul Boutin : When I moved into a new neighborhood last week, I expected the usual hassles. Then I found out I'd have to wait more than a month for a DSL line. I started convulsing. If I don't have Net access for even one day, I can't do my job. So, what was I supposed to do? There's an Internet café on the next block, but they close early. I had no choice, it was time to start sneaking on to my neighbors' home networks. Every techie I know says that you shouldn't use other people's networks without permission. Every techie I know does it anyway. If you're going to steal, no, let's say borrow your neighbor's Wi-Fi access, you might as well do it right. So that's alright then. Actually quite an interesting article that points out that there are a very large number of wireless access points out there that are part of the "Factory Default Community Network".. You can spot them because they have names like "linksys," "default," "Wireless," "NETGEAR," "belkin54g," and "Apple Network 0273df." What I don't understand though is all his talk about passwords. Surely he's not hacking into the admin interface on these APs? Generally if an AP is still on Factory Defaults it will give you access and DHCP at which point you're good to go. There's no password involved in this at all, at all. One of the comments talks about asking the owner first. But frankly how do you do this? It's not generally easy at all to physically locate the AP if all you have is a signal on your laptop. Which is why I'd strongly encourage people to change their SSID to include some location info such as "1 Trinity Rd-public". Then if you want people to ask first they have at least got a chance of knowing where to go. [from: JB Ecademy] |
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[ 21-Nov-04 11:40am ] [ WiFi
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