[wsfii-discuss] Fwd: [india-gii] poor WiFi encryption a security risk

Thu Sep 18 22:16:48 UTC 2008

On Sep 18, 2008, at 3:16 PM, wlanmac wrote:

> True, but your analogy isn't complete, in my opinion.
>
> Roads are patrolled by police and sometimes cctv. You need a license
> to drive and are subject to random inspection. The postal system puts
> safeguards in place to deal with threats. Cellular networks are
> not free and open and they also monitor and track usage.
>
> What safeguards are put into open WiFi networks?
> How are they patrolled and/or monitored?
>
> Closing the 'networks' you pointed out would indeed have serious
> implications to business, life, and liberty. Does closing down
> (or securing) WiFi have the same kind of consequences? hmm...
>

the problem with securing wifi is that WEP is still crackable anyway.
WPA is just as good as the passwords the user chose.

So the whole security topic should be seen more on an "internet level".

you could just as well replace "open wifi network" in the  
argumentation above by
"internet cafe" or "university campus" or "DSL uplink". Why?
Because we live in times of tor or other strong crypto anonymizers.

So...

no reason to bash at open wifi networks in particular in my opinion.

a.