Staying safe in Wi-Fi hot spots

According to a recent In-Stat survey, half of US business professionals now use Wi-Fi hot spots in hotels, airports, and other public venues -- one fourth at least once a week. Many hot spot users are concerned about security, and for good reason. Hot spots are an ideal venue for eavesdropping, sharing viruses, or simply taking advantage of those whose defenses are weak.

On the flip side, Wi-Fi hot spots can make business travel far more productive. It's never been easier for travelers to stay in touch with the office and home. Occasional travelers can pay as they go, using hourly or day passes, generally under $10. Frequent travelers can open all-you-can eat hot spot accounts, starting at $20 per month (e.g., Boingo). Those who prefer free services can search JWire or Wi-Fi free hot spot, although some travel may be required to reach even the closest free hot spot.

Getting started
Fortunately, you don't need to avoid hot spots to avoid wireless intruders. Start by taking just a few simple steps to harden your station's defenses.

In mid-January, the Nomad Mobile Research Centre warned that many XP devices are accidentally associating with Ad Hoc peers using common Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs). In one field test, of 56 clients lured i

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nto connecting this way, 11 were vulnerable to remote file access or compromise. The three steps outline above are basic and simple, but would have been enough to completely elude this attack.

Going further
These simple steps are a good start, but more is required to prevent eavesdropping on wireless data and man-in-the-middle attacks.

These four steps do require at least some on-going security awareness and effort. But everyone concerned with hot spot security should give them a try. Whether you're an individual, a small business, or a large enterprise, security measures like these can help you to more safely reap the benefits of Wi-Fi hot spots.

[TABLE]About the author: Lisa Phifer is vice president of Core Competence Inc., a consulting firm specializing in network security and management technology. Phifer has been involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of data communications, internetworking, security, and network management products for nearly 20 years. She teaches about wireless LANs and virtual private networking at industry conferences and has written extensively about network infrastructure and security technologies for numerous publications. She is also a site expert to SearchMobileComputing.com and SearchNetworking.com.

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