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<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em"><A
href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wifihack16mar16,0,5875273.story?track=ntothtml">http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wifihack16mar16,0,5875273.story?track=ntothtml</A><BR>
<H1>Ensnared on the wireless Web</H1>
<DIV class=storysubhead><STRONG><FONT size=4>Hackers' latest tactic to steal
information is setting up fake hotspots that users unwittingly use to access
Internet.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>By Tami Abdollah<BR>Times Staff
Writer<BR><BR>March 16, 2007<BR><BR>As Los Angeles and hundreds of other
communities push to turn themselves into massive wireless hotspots, unsuspecting
Internet users are stumbling onto hacker turf, giving computer thieves nearly
effortless access to their laptops and private information, authorities and
high-tech security experts say.<BR><BR>It's an invasion with a twist: People who
think they are signing on to the Internet through a wireless hotspot might
actually be connecting to a look-alike network, created by a malicious user who
can steal sensitive information, said Geoff Bickers, a special agent for the
FBI's Los Angeles cyber squad.<BR><BR>It is not clear how many people have been
victimized, and few suspects have been charged with Wi-Fi hacking. But Bickers
said that over the last couple of years, these hacking techniques have become
increasingly common, and are often undetectable. The risk is especially high at
cafes, hotels and airports, busy places with heavy turnover of laptop users,
authorities said.<BR><BR>"Wireless is a convenience, that's why people use it,"
Bickers said. "There's an axiom in the computer world that convenience is the
enemy of security. People don't use wireless because they want to be secure.
They use wireless because it's easy."<BR><BR>For Mark Loveless, just one letter
separated security from scam.<BR><BR>Logging on to his hotel's free wireless
Internet in San Francisco last month, Loveless had two networks to choose
between on his laptop screen — same name, one beginning with a lowercase letter,
one with a capital. He chose the latter and, as he had done earlier that day,
connected. But this time, a screen popped up asking for his log-in and
password.<BR><BR>Loveless, a 46-year-old security analyst from Texas,
immediately disconnected. A former hacker, he knew an attack when he saw one, he
said.<BR><BR>Most Internet users do not.<BR><BR>About 14.3 million American
households use wireless Internet, and this figure is projected to grow to nearly
49 million households by 2010, according to Jupiter Research, which specializes
in business and technology market research.<BR><BR>"There's literally probably
millions of laptops in the U.S. that are configured to join networks named
Linksys or D-Link when they are available," said Corey O'Donnell, vice president
of marketing for Authentium, a company that provides security software. "So if
I'm a hacker, it's as easy as setting up a network with one of those names and
waiting for the fish to come."<BR><BR>Linksys and D-Link are two of the many
commercial brands of wireless routers, products that allow a user to connect to
the Internet using radio frequency.<BR><BR>As the field of wireless connectivity
expands, so too does a hacker's playground. More than 300 municipalities across
the country are planning or already operating Wi-Fi service.<BR><BR>Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last month announced plans for citywide Wi-Fi in
2009. USC already offers free wireless, and by the end of March, Los Angeles
International Airport will officially offer wireless at all its terminals under
a new contract with T-Mobile.<BR><BR>Some airlines already offer Wi-Fi at LAX.
"There are no signs for any service at all, so if any passenger is accessing a
free wireless service … they should be cautious," said Nancy Castles, an airport
spokeswoman.<BR><BR>A survey at Chicago's O'Hare Airport by Authentium revealed
76 peer-to-peer networks, or access points that are connected to via another
user's computer, with 27 of them advertising access to free Wi-Fi — a
trademarked term for the technical specifications of wireless local area network
operation. The company also found that three of the networks had fake or
misleading addresses, one sign the hotspots could be hackers.<BR><BR>"At a busy
place like O'Hare, in one hour a bad guy could get 20 laptops to connect to his
network and steal the users' account information," said Ray Dickenson, vice
president of product management at Authentium, who conducted the survey last
September.<BR><BR>Corporate networks are sometimes the most vulnerable, as
employers push for a more mobile workforce without always educating its users on
the security risks of wireless Internet.<BR><BR>Many workers rely on corporate
firewalls in the office and an automatic default network setting that links them
to their corporate networks. Outside the office, the firewall is no longer in
place. That means the computer is unprotected. Once hackers have "got a toehold
in a network, it's pretty much game over," Bickers said.<BR><BR>Most laptops are
configured to search for open wireless points and common wireless names, whether
or not the user is trying to get online. That leaves people open to
hacking.<BR><BR>In two new attacks, called "evil twin" and "man in the middle,"
hackers create Wi-Fi access points titled whatever they like, such as "Free
Airport Wireless" or an established, commercial name.<BR><BR>In the "evil twin"
attack, the user turns on a laptop, which may automatically try to connect. When
it does, it is connecting to a fake access point, or "evil twin," and the hacker
gets into personal files, steals passwords or plants a virus.<BR><BR>The hacker
can become a "man in the middle" when he funnels the user's Internet connection
through this false access point to a true wireless connection. The unsuspecting
Wi-Fi surfer may then proceed to enter credit card information, access e-mail or
reveal other sensitive data that can be tracked by the hacker. Meanwhile, the
session appears ordinary to the user.<BR><BR>Although the FBI has been aware of
this kind of attack for about five years, its use has increased in the last
couple of years and is being seen as a "huge threat," Bickers said.<BR><BR>"The
actual tools you need, the software, the hardware, etc., to mount this sort of
attack has become insanely easy to acquire," Bickers said. "You need a laptop,
wireless radio and the ability to download a free tool and run it. It literally
is child's play."<BR><BR>The creation of the access point itself is not
generally considered criminal; it's what happens next — tracking people's
Internet use — that can cross the line.<BR><BR>These hacking techniques are
considered to be "tantamount to a computer intrusion and illegal interception of
wireless communication that can be prosecuted under federal law," Bickers
said.<BR><BR>But computer evidence and statistics are hard to come by, said Arif
Alikhan, a former federal prosecutor and former chief of the cyber and
intellectual property crimes section for the U.S. attorney's office in Los
Angeles. People can unwittingly compromise their computers in a multitude of
ways, and often there's no trace.<BR><BR>"You can tell how many burglaries occur
because you're victimized, and someone knows they're victimized," Alikhan said.
"People don't always know if someone is using their wireless network, and it's
very difficult to tell unless you trace back every single connection…. It
happens more than I think we all realize."<BR><BR>The U.S. attorney's office
will not comment on pending investigations; however, wireless hacking cases are
relatively new, and few if any current cases involve "evil twin" or "man in the
middle" attacks, law enforcement authorities said.<BR><BR>"This is a classic
case of law and law enforcement being a little behind the technological curve,"
Bickers said.<BR><BR>Other types of wireless-related Internet hacking cases have
recently popped up across the country.<BR><BR>Nicholas Tombros was found guilty
in 2004, under the federal Can-Spam Act, of "war-spamming." He drove around the
Venice Beach area with his laptop and used unprotected wireless access points to
send spam. He could receive up to three years in federal prison at his
sentencing next month.<BR><BR>He is the only defendant who has been charged in a
case involving wireless hacking by the Greater Los Angeles section of the U.S.
Department of Justice's cyber and intellectual property crimes division since it
was established in October 2001, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Wesley L.
Hsu, deputy chief of the section.<BR><BR>"They are technically difficult cases….
They're difficult cases to put together, so law enforcement is having to sort of
catch up," Hsu said.<BR><BR>On Sept. 30, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into
law the Wi-Fi User Protection Bill, which aims to block unauthorized sharing of
open Wi-Fi networks and inform users of the dangers of unsecured networks.
Starting in October, warnings and tips will be required on all wireless
home-networking equipment sold in California.<BR><BR>The law specifically
addresses "piggybacking" — or the use of another person's wireless network to
access the Internet — a problem that security experts say has been a concern for
years.<BR><BR>*<BR><BR>
<HR width="20%">
<I>tami.abdollah@latimes.com</I> </DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>