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Message Digest
Volume 29 : Issue 71 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Clueless Woman Calls Tech Show When Her Stolen Wi-Fi Disappears
Re: Smartphones will make mobile security a challenge
Re:Does ADSL interfere with cordless phone?
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Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:13:50 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Clueless Woman Calls Tech Show When Her Stolen Wi-Fi Disappears
Message-ID: <UpKdnRs3xuoslQTWnZ2dnUVZ_sCdnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
On 3/10/2010 8:34 PM, Bruce L.Bergman wrote:
> If the original clueless party was being honest, she would have
> offered to locate the system owner and "Buy In" to the WiFi access,
> trade the System Password for a portion of the bill, and agree to play
> nice and not over-utilize it. (See Below) But we can see where that
> went.
I disagree: it's hard to find a WiFi hotspot with just a laptop for
guidance, and she might have been using a desktop anyway. Dense areas of
apartments or office buildings can bounce signals every which way: we
don't know if she was just willing-but-unable.
> There are a few serious wrinkles in the issue of sharing WiFi -
> First, data security. If you allow strangers access to your internal
> network, they have just bypassed your firewall - and have access to
> all the computers on your network and all the data stored on them.
>
> For a good hacker, once they have breached the firewall and are
> inside the network, the rest is childs play. Now it IS possible to
> set it up where the guests on the unsecured WiFi node are outside the
> LAN firewall and can only access the Internet, but the average user
> isn't going to figure that one out, or spend extra for the gear
> needed.
That's understood at the start: you're making a straw man here. Nobody
ever said sharing was risk-free, and if someone chooses to give
non-vetted machines or people access to a private LAN, then they choose
to take the risks. The use of any shared resource is subject to the
Tragedy of the Commons, but the issue is whether J. Random User is
entitled to assume that an unsecured hotspot is open to all.
> Second, you might think "That's all right, I have 'Unlimited'
> Internet service, I can share" - but that's Unlimited in name only.
>
> They DO run a usage meter on you at the Telco or CableCo internet
> headend, you can find it hidden in the fine print of your contract. If
> you use more than they consider 'normal usage' (the trigger point
> figure I usually hear is ~5 GB a month) they can force you to buy
> 'Business Grade' service or just disconnect you for abuse.
"They" can't force anyone to do anything: that's another straw man. You
are assuming that Internet access is essential to life, and that users
will have to do whatever their ISP demands. That's not true.
While there might, or might not, be bandwidth limits on use (please cite
specific instances, with references, of times that such limits were
actually applied), I doubt that casual use of a shared hotspot, for
email or homework or checking messages at the office or whatever, would
trigger any bandwidth cap.
>> Telecom Digest Moderator writes:
>>
>>> Well, I've made my position clear already. Using a resource that
>>> the owner chooses not to safeguard is, to my mind, "acceptable
>>> use".
>
> Just because it is unsecured does NOT mean they can't come after you
> for using it - IIRC, it was Lowe's Home Improvement who had someone
> successfully prosecuted for hacking their internal network through an
> *open and unencrypted* WiFi connection at several of their stores.
> Yes, 2004, it's Googlable.
>
> And another in November 2003 at a medical office. And again,
> Nicholas Tombros busted for Wardriving to find open WiFi, and sending
> spam runs out on the victim's internet connection. And hundreds
> more...
That's a third straw men argument. OF _COURSE_ "they" can come after
you if you're careless: that's a truism of the modern age, and not the
subject of this debate. You may as well postulate that Lowe's didn't
install fingerprint-id circuits in the ignitions of their delivery
trucks, and so should be blamed when someone used one to smash through
the front window.
It's routine for businesses to make an open Access Point available for
visitors: after all, business is about efficiency, and keeping employees
efficient while they're visiting other businesses means making the
Internet available to the employees of other businesses in turn. Those
who share a resource are entitled to expect civility and good will from
the users, because that's what keeps the resource usable for everyone.
BTW, the headlines may be "Googlable" (so are claims that the Holocaust
never happened and that the Hale-Bopp comet signaled the apocalypse),
but the actual result is likely to be a lot different. Again, please
provide specific references to the descriptions of the result that
came after the headlines: has a court of law found that Lowe's acted
negligently?
Using a shared resource for illegal or foolish ends doesn't demean or
compromise those who share: I may regret having loaned my motorcycle to
my cousin back in 1978, but I don't begrudge my son the use of the
family station wagon because of it.
Bill Horne
--
(Filter QRM for direct replies)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:07:18 -0800
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Smartphones will make mobile security a challenge
Message-ID: <4B993F66.6040801@thadlabs.com>
On 3/9/2010 4:33 PM, Thad Floryan wrote:
> The increasing use of smart phones in the workplace opens
> new vulnerabilities as the smart phones become hacked and
> run malware. Think of the smart phones as open conduits
> to the company/corporate LANs and other infrastructure per:
>
> " [...]
> " ... mentioned SexyView.D, what he described as the first
> " iPhone worm targeting an English-speaking audience. The
> " virus, which only affected "jail-broken" iPhones (devices
> " modified to work with other phone service providers),
> " spreads through text messages containing malicious links
> " and re-sends itself to the victim's list of contacts once
> " inside.
> "
> " In November, F-Secure found in the Netherlands another
> " iPhone virus called Duh, which substituted a bank's log-in
> " Web site for a fake one designed by criminals to steal the
> " victims' credentials. The scam was not easy to detect with
> " the naked eye since Internet addresses often don't show in
> " their entirety in mobile devices.
> " [...]
>
> Complete story here:
>
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=58757
And today on Slashdot we find:
" Apple Blocking iPhone Security Software
"
"<http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/03/11/1621249/Apple-Blocking-iPhone-Secu
rity-Software>
"
" Speaking exclusively to PC Pro, Eugene Kaspersky has claimed
" Apple has repeatedly refused to deliver the software development
" kit necessary to design security software for the phone. 'We
" have been in contact for two years with Apple to develop our
" anti-theft software, [but] still we do not have permission,'
" said Kaspersky. Although he admits the risk of viruses
" infecting the iPhone is 'almost zero,' he claims that securing
" the data on the handset is critical, especially as iPhones are
" increasingly being used for business purposes. 'I don't want
" to say Apple's is the wrong way of behaving, or the right
" way,' Kaspersky added. 'It's just a corporate culture — it
" wants to control everything.
Kapersky already offers security solutions for Symbian and
Windows Mobile and soon for Blackberry and Android. More from
Eugene Kapersky here:
<http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/356344/kaspersky-apple-is-blocking-ipho
ne-security-software>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:41:34 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re:Does ADSL interfere with cordless phone?
Message-ID: <hnbriu$oks$1@news.albasani.net>
Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>My question was, Does a specialized filter exist for cordless phones
>that use 43-60 MHz range. It must not be old enough to use 1.7 MHz, as
>it has 10 channels.
Finally found the manual:
The cordless phone in question is Sony SPP-2000, manufactured in 1994.
It uses 10 channels at 46MHz and another 10 channels at 49MHz. With the
ADSL2 modem plugged in, sound quality on the cordless phone is dreadful.
Sorry about my earlier confusion. No, it's not old enough to have been a
1.7 Mhz cordless phone.
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End of The Telecom digest (3 messages)
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