--- "Patrick W. Gilmore" <patrick@ianai.net> wrote:
On Nov 21, 2005, at 9:42 AM, Ross Hosman wrote:
So my question is pretty simple. You have all these major companies such as google/earthlink/sprint/etc. building wifi networks. Lets say I want to collect peoples information so I setup an AP with the same ssid as google's ap so people connect to it and I log all of their traffic. Most people won't check beyond the ssid to look at the mac address but even that could be spoofed. Is there anyway to verify a certain ap beyond mac/ssid, will there be in the future? How do these companies plan to mitigate this threat or are they just going to hope consumers are smart enough to figure it out?
Why would you even need to set up an AP? Why not just sit and sniff traffic? Gets you the _exact_ same information.
And why worry about Google, etc., when Starbucks and airports have been doing this for _years_?
Lastly, most consumers are smart enough to know to use encryption (the little pad-lock in their browser). Some aren't. Changing the WiFi architecture is not going to save those who aren't.
-- TTFN, patrick
I have to disagree that most consumers are smart enough to use encryption. Most consumers are dumb as a brick when it comes to the internet and especially security. Take a look at the average AOL user and you'll see what I'm saying. Starbucks and t-mobile is a little bit different as these networks aren't concentrated. As we companies start covering entire cities I believe you could start seeing this as becoming a regular problem. __________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page! http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs