Comments on: Open WiFi at home or not? I say yes.

By: Tris Hussey

Tris Hussey — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 03:36:27 +0000

Tarek, I love that last point! Yes it is really hard for even pretty experience computer users to secure their machines to allow for an open WiFi node. Heck that and sw firewalls really, really choke things up.

Just lock it down people. It’s not that hard anymore.

By: Tarek

Tarek — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 23:46:31 +0000

Almost a year ago, Bruce Schneier asked in his blog if we really need a security industry.

“As I often do, I mused about what it means for the IT industry that there are thousands of dedicated security products on the market: some good, more lousy, many difficult even to describe. Why aren’t IT products and services naturally secure, and what would it mean for the industry if they were?”, Bruce Schneier
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/05/do_we_really_ne.html

I think his opinion about making Wifi open consists with what he wrote. He is pushing people to train the warriors instead of relying on untrained warriors with a lot of shields around their bodies.

But the problem is that I have the feeling that he is somehow confused and cannot tell when the warrior’s body ends and when his shields start.

By: Tris Hussey

Tris Hussey — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:20:30 +0000

I saw that article too and I think that’s one reason cafes should use basic security on their APs too. One of my fav Serious Coffee’s (the Sidney location) has a basic password on it, not a huge deal, but a nice step.

Since my Meraki AP has good usage logs I think I’m pretty well covered and I watch for people going on and using a lot of bandwidth. If someone is using too much, I’ll block them.

By: Mack D. Male

Mack D. Male — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:09:05 +0000

Here’s a recent ars article on “wifi flu: viral router attack could hit whole cities” that may be relevant. While a bit out-there, it does recommend using WEP or WPA…so, not open wifi.

http://tinyurl.com/27ya9w

My preference is to turn on security, mainly because our legal system is stupid when it comes to technology and I can just see myself being held accountable for something done by a malicious war-driver.