They're Out There
| 12:34 UK time, Tuesday, 28 March 2006
Public Service Announcement...
Turn on your encryption!
I am amazed at how many home wireless networks there are around now.
Even in my not very wealthy part of North London, there are now five within reach of my laptop, all with good signals.
Two of the five are open. I can use them, and surf the Internet for free.
Of course I don't, I'm too much of a goody two shoes for that.
But if I wanted to I could.
What's obviously happened is that a lot of people have read those Saturday newspaper articles which say Installing Your Own Wireless Network Is Easy...
But they haven't read down to the part where it says... But It's Risky.
So they have gone to the store, bought the box, plugged it in, and: "Hey, it works. Martha, come and take a look at this!"
The first wireless router I installed, three years ago, had so little power I had to be in the same room for it to hit the laptop.
I bought a booster in the US (if this was illegal in the UK, I'm sorry, officer).
The whole thing cost hundreds of pounds.
The latest one: £50, and works all over the house.
And over next door and across the street too, I shouldn't wonder.
I knew about the security settings and so turned on the codes.
But judging from what I can see now, all over the country there are people who don't know that their home networks are as open to view as if they were using their computers on the pavement.
You really should. I'm not clever or cruel (or bored) enough to bother fiddling around in my neighbours' files.
But I'm sure I know a man who could.
With that in mind, take a look (with the usual Â鶹Éç disclaimer about external websites) at this list .
Comments
You would be surprised how many people ignore security completely on their wireless networks. Even with manuals and instructions clearly stating how crucial settings passwords and codes are. But then I suppose like the rest of us, when you get a new toy, the first thing you do, once the box is open, is set it up, switch it on, never looking at the manual.
The reception of new technology is a fascinating chapter in itself. When electricity was new, there was a First Lady in the White House who was so afraid of it that someone had to switch the lights on for her. A man in the country could not be persuaded to get anywhere near a telephone until a friend brought a phone to him, saying that his wife was ten miles away and wished to speak to him, when the instrument was struck by lightning and the man tottered, remarking that that sure was his wife because she always affected him like that. This last may have been an invented story but it sounds authentic.