Security (was Re: [TriLUG] who else is experimenting with the sharp zaurus?)

[M. Mueller]

On Friday 17 May 2002 11:31 am, <Andrew C. Oliver> wrote:

> Lets talk likelyhood per amount of effort.  Its fairly unlikely I'd be a
> target due to the pure lack of gain.  

Identity theft is the concern.  Unsecure wireless networks could provide 
enough information about a person to impersonate them.  By impersonating 
someone you can get a line of credit and leave the real indentity owner with 
the responsibility of paying off the bills.  

I personally know someone to whom this happened.  It takes months to 
staighten things out.  You are assumed to be lying every step of the way.  
You have few advocates on your side. I have no idea how the identity was 
stolen.  But I see wireless LANs as good place to start harvesting 
information.  

Awareness of the risk and being paranoid and being vigilant when using 
wireless technology should be enough to prevent evil for the group that hangs 
out here.  The larger problem is for the technically uninformed users that 
will plug in the wireless net card and start paying bills over the Internet 
without proper precautions.

There is faith in technology at work here.  When a card is plugged in and 
encryption processes are run you believe that everything is working, but 
unless you have quality assurances mechanisms in place, how do you really 
know the security claims are working as advertised?  What is the chance 
that an accident will compromise your security?

-- 
Mike Mueller
www.ss7box.com