Perils of Wireless Networking

By Rick Parrott

In November 2003, Toronto police arrested a man in an upscale residential neighborhood. They noticed his car driving slowly the wrong way down a one-way street. Upon stopping the car, the police discovered the driver naked from the waist down. What was he doing? (continued...)

He was using his laptop to download and watch “kiddie” porn from the Internet! How? He was connecting to the internet using unprotected wireless systems in the houses near the road!

Here is the problem, if someone were to access the Internet and download illegal material, then disconnect and drive off; it would look like the homeowner did the downloading. How hard would it be to convince the FBI that you were a victim?

This is not the only time this has happened. In a recent interview, attorney Joseph Burton, of Duane Morris Law Firm, said, “Is it possible a home owner can be liable for a lack of security on a wireless network? Yes, if they are negligent in setting up security.” (Richard Shim, CNET News.com).

According to research by the World Wide War Drive over 228,537 wireless access points were detected. Over 62% were totally open and unprotected! In San Antonio Texas, the percentage of unprotected networks is slightly higher.

Some wireless access points can extend their coverage over 300 feet from the unit. Sure, the farther away, the slower the connection, but even one mbps is faster than a dialup connection. Add that to being untraceable and you have a pervert’s heaven!

Having a wireless network connection is a great thing; the freedom it gives you is priceless. With a few precautions, you can secure your wireless connection and surf the World Wide Web from the comfort of your easy chair, bed or backyard.

Conducting a casual site survey around your home will tell you a lot about your vulnerability. Do you live right up on the road? How far from your home, are your neighbors? How far does your signal carry from the wireless unit?

After answering these questions, you can proceed to securing the wireless network itself.

Unfortunately, consumer routers are shipped wide open. That is they have no preconfigured security. You, the homeowner, will have to configure the security setting yourself.

Your wireless router and network interface card (NIC) are the parts that actually talk to each other. Each of them has a MAC address. This is a unique number assigned to every NIC made, worldwide.

Using this MAC address, you set the router security to talk only to certain other MAC addresses. Therefore, if you have two laptops in your network, you add both MAC addresses to your router security setup and any other MAC addresses are blocked.

This security setup works well for keeping the average wireless user out of your system, but a competent hacker can bypass it. A technique called spoofing allows the hacker’s computer to pretend to be one of your laptops and trick the system into letting him in.

To prevent this you would need to add additional layers of security. Keep in mind though, every additional layer of security adds to the burden of your network. It slows things down. Litigation seems to be a national past time these days. Protect yourself and your family by taking some of the precautions listed above. If you feel you need the extra protection offered by WEP or another encryption scheme contact your locate computer technician and have him configure it for you.

This is an especially important decision for those who run their own business and use wireless products. How angry would your customer’s be if someone stole their information off your network and used it to open accounts in their name?

Identity Theft is only one possible outcome, if your network contains patient data you could be in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Then you would be dealing with the federal government!

Take the time to protect yourself and your family. Security does take a little time, but it could save you many problems down the road.

SA Secure, a San Antonio Texas company specializing in desktop support and help desk services for small to medium businesses. Our goal is to provide an alternative to maintaining an expensive in-house IT staff or relying on many different individual computer repair technicians. Our services allow you to obtain an expert level of cost effective technical support without the need to maintain technicians on-site.

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WiFi Toys -- Great Book For Tinkering

Wireless networking is permeating every facet of our modern society. Kids are using wireless cell phones and text messaging to keep in touch in ways never imagined a few years ago. Adults are using wireless networking to work from home, or away on vacation. Wireless Web and data works from the very depths of a Disneyland ride to cruise ship excursions and cross-country airline flights. Enthusiasts like yourself are breaking beyond packaged products to enter new realms of connectivity and mobility. (continued...)

This book is a testament to the hobbyists, hackers, tweakers, and rule-benders who are constantly pushing the envelope of accepted use of technology.Wireless is especially ripe for experimentation by you rule-benders.

New social and personal dynamics are being created every day because of wireless. This book attempts to examine the practical exploitation of wireless networking. The projects here will help you get an understanding of the driving force behind the revolution.With the background and step-by-step nature of project creation, you will be able to move beyond the scope of this book and develop your own creations, to your own ends.

Wi-Fi Toys is an introduction to breaking down the boundaries set by manufacturers and product vendors. Seize your moment and create something astounding.

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Windows Vista -- Good Site

Found this site with plenty of screenshots and lots of info regarding Windows Vista.

It's scheduled to be out next year and it looks like it has plenty to offer including lots of multimedia features.

Have a look-see...

Windows Vista Site

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Seattle-Area Buses Add Wi-Fi

By Glenn Fleishman

The King County Metro Transit tries out Wi-Fi on a few routes: Using the locally made Junxion Box, which relays data between a Wi-Fi gateway and a 2.5G or 3G cellular network, Metro Transit will equip all buses along two long routes with Internet access,29 buses in all by mid-October. The service will be free during trials which will last five months and run on a route from south Seattle to north Seattle and another between the university neighborhood and Federal Way, a southern suburb. (continued...)

Sound Transit, a larger regional transit authority working on a light-rail system and other commuter projects, plans to experiment with a Redmond (Microsoft/Nintendo HQ) and Seattle route with five buses equipped.

Here's coverage from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times. Metro Transit runs more than 1,000 buses.

One of the routes, the number 48, stops within three blocks of my house and has run directly to my two previous offices, so you can imagine I�ll be doing live trials. Both routes pass the University of Washington. The 48 is insanely crowded during morning commute, and I imagine someone with small hands and a PDA could use the service then.

Metro Transit has a variety of interesting online tools that tie in neatly with this project. They have a Java-based bus tracker (see figure upper right) which lets you see the current location of any bus in the system using their transponders. Their trip planner is also handy. If I were a frequent commuter with a handheld Wi-Fi-equipped device, I think I'd love to use it to help figure out the commute while underway.

Some Metro and Sound Transit routes are quite long and spend most of their time on their freeway, making it a more natural fit for working while commuting during time that's between down time and useful time. This is the argument"

Source: Wi-Fi Networking News

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WiMax Provides Cheap Broadband

As businesses outgrow DSL lines, they often find that T1 lines are too expensive. WiMAX provides a low-cost option.

The term "tween" is often used to describe youngsters of a certain age, but as wireless broadband operators have learned, it also refers to a certain type of business that needs a new type of access. (continued...)

"There's a huge collection of companies that are falling halfway between DSL, which is not really enough for them, and a T1," said Caroline Gabriel, research director at Rethink Research. "It's a stretch for them to lease a T1, which is overkill. Broadband wireless fits right in the middle."

WiMAX wireless broadband has been available in pre-standard form for more than a year and standardized WiMAX could start being available before the end of the year. In addition, other wireless broadband technologies, such as Flarion Technologies' FLASH-OFDM, also are available in some areas.

Besides being a good fit for many small and medium-sized organizations, it turns out this emerging technology looks to have one other big benefit: It will bring fast access to many businesses, particularly in smaller markets, that don't have a lot of connectivity options. That means WiMAX and other types of wireless broadband, could become a true small town hero.

Much-Needed Competition
In Owensboro, Kentucky, for example, the local car dealer was nearly forced to relocate because broadband prices were too high, said Carlton O'Neal, vice president of marketing for Alvarion, a supplier of pre-WiMAX wireless broadband equipment.

Some car manufacturers have stopped sending repair manuals to dealers, instead requiring the dealers to download the manuals online. In small towns like Owensboro, where there is no competition for broadband services, the local telco often charges as much as $1,000 a month for a T1 line. But that monthly fee, especially since the dealership required more than one T1, was just too much.

Rather than loose the car dealership, the municipal cooperative electric company in Owensboro decided to build a broadband wireless network that could serve the dealership as well as anyone else in town interested in a more reasonably-priced broadband connections.

"There was no alternative," said O'Neal. Within six months, the co-op had signed up 700 customers. The business customers are paying a fraction of what it would cost for a T1 line.

In other markets, even in larger cities, broadband wireless is also proving ideal for meeting the needs of small and medium sized businesses. AirBand is a broadband wireless operator serving tier one and tier two markets. When the operator launched in 2000, airBand's key advantage against the wireline competitors was price. While the cost of a T1 has dropped dramatically since then, airBand still says that it has an edge that is attractive to businesses of any size.

One benefit airBand can offer that is particularly valuable often to small or medium sized businesses is the ability to quickly increase bandwidth for customers. "We offer other benefits like scalability," Lisa Kolczun, vice president of marketing for airBand.

In addition, many broadband wireless operators say they offer valuable customer attention.

"The large telcos were established to go after residential and large enterprises, so the small to medium businesses were left out in the cold," said Kolczun.

Often, small businesses must dial into a general customer support line when they have problems or to buy new services. While that may work for commodity types of services, it's often less satisfying for more complicated offerings such as voice over IP or an integrated electronic fax solution, Kolczun said.

"These are businesses that may not have an IT or telecom expert on site," she noted. "They need more touch then the big guys can provide." Often, the smaller competitive broadband wireless operators are willing to offer that service.

Customer service, scalability and price aren't the only factors attracting businesses to broadband wireless. While most broadband wireless operators offer fixed services, some are beginning to add a capability unique to wireless: portability. Neoreach Wireless, for instance, is expanding its network in Tempe, Arizona to offer portable services.

"If you're a small business and you're paying $300 to $400 for a T1-like product, you can get that from a variety of sources in Tempe," said Bruce Sanguinetti, president and CEO of Neoreach Wireless. "But consider that same product, maybe the same price, then add onto that five or ten roaming accounts that let you go call on customers."

This isn't true mobility as will be the case with WiMAX when the 802.16e standard is adopted in the next year or so. Still, such services might be attractive to a whole slew of businesses, such as real estate and insurance agents who could carry laptops or PDAs to access documents or email while out of the office. He believes the portability feature, which the telcos don't have, will draw customers to Neoreach. Neoreach currently serves 30,000 customers with a fixed offering in 25 to 30 municipal areas. It has only recently begun offering the portable service and the number of portable users isn't available.

Neoreach's strategy is to build networks in cooperation with municipalities, like it is doing in Tempe. Its plan is to reach agreements with municipalities where the municipality allows access to assets such as light poles and city buildings so that Neoreach can build the network. In exchange, Neoreach acts as a wholesale operator, selling access to ISPs that provide service to end users.

Neoreach's future strategy may be particularly good news for businesses that are located in outlying suburban areas with little or no options for broadband services. Once Neoreach builds the municipal networks, it plans to add WiMAX capabilities to the access points at the perimeter of town. The WiMAX antennas would point outward, covering areas outside of the city center. The network will extend coverage into outlying areas and also allow residents or businesses in those areas to roam onto the city center network when they visit downtown.

While the business of targeting small to medium sized businesses may look rosy now, the future may not necessarily be so bright.

"Small to medium businesses a few years ago didn't buy that much but now small businesses have quite sophisticated broadband needs so they offer more revenue opportunities," said Gabriel. That means the bigger telcos are beginning to take notice and they may also employ wireless technologies as a low cost way to reach new regions and customers. "It's partly to get into regions they don't cover but also a different service so they can provide something a bit lower level and a bit cheaper." BellSouth and AT&T have both publicly announced broadband wireless trials.

AirBand's Kolczun doesn't expect the telcos to start rolling out broadband wireless networks any time soon. They've all been testing broadband wireless for years.

"Some may deploy it, some may not. It may be one of those things where they'll just take a company over to get the expertise," she said.

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