I just read a fascinating article in the St. Petersburg Times about a fellow who was arrested for using an open Wi-Fi AP to surf the Web. This is one of only a handful of such arrests across the country. It reminded me of just how prevalent Wi-Fi technology is now, and how easy it is to break it. I’m going to be double-checking my own Access Point tonight for some of the things they mention at the bottom of the article. I also wonder at times how secure the local SAS APs are from intrusion.
I already run WEP (for whatever good that does me), but I haven’t mucked with MAC filters yet and figure that may be a good idea. Running my own AP has always made me nervous, and this article hasn’t helped. I sure am looking forward to having some consumer devices with better security hit the market soon.
Wi-Fi strikes me as being a technology that the was rushed into without fully understanding the consequences of its use. Sure, it’s really convenient and fun to use, but does that counterbalance the security risk?
I think the consequences were fully understood, but they also understood that John Doe would just be too stupid to properly implement it, so they didn’t bother too much.