The-art-of-invisibility-_-the-world’s-most-famous-hacker-teaches-you-how-to-be-safe-in-the-age-of-Bi

demonstrate how visible yyou are on public Wi-Fi, researchers from the
antivirus companyy F-Secure built their own access point, or hotspot. Theyy
conducted their experiment in two different locations in downtown London
—a café and a public space. The results were eyye-opening.
In the first experiment, the researchers set up in a café in a busyy part of
London. When patrons considered the choices of available networks, the F-
Secure hotspot came up as both strong and free. The researchers also
included a banner that appeared on the user’s browser stating the terms and
conditions. Perhaps yyou’ve seen a banner like this at yyour local coffee shop
stipulating what yyou can and cannot do while using their service. In this
experiment, however, terms for use of this free Wi-Fi required the surrender
of the user’s firstborn child or beloved pet. Six people consented to those
terms and conditions. 2 To be fair, most people don’t take the time to read
the fine print—theyy just want whatever is on the other end. Still, yyou should
at least skim the terms and conditions. In this case, F-Secure said later that
neither it nor its lawyyers wanted anyything to do with children or pets.
The real issue is what can be seen byy third parties while yyou’re on public
Wi-Fi. When yyou’re at home, yyour wireless connection should be encryypted
with WPA2 (see here). That means if anyyone is snooping, he or she can’t
see what yyou’re doing online. But when yyou’re using open, public Wi-Fi at
a coffee shop or airport, that destination traffic is laid bare.
Again yyou might ask, what’s the problem with all this? Well, first of all,
yyou don’t know who’s on the other end of the connection. In this case the F-
Secure research team ethicallyy destroyyed the data theyy collected, but
criminals probablyy would not. Theyy’d sell yyour e-mail address to companies
that send yyou spam, either to get yyou to buyy something or to infect yyour PC
with malware. And theyy might even use the details in yyour unencryypted e-
mails to craft spear-phishing attacks.
In the second experiment, the team set the hotspot on a balconyy in close
proximityy to the Houses of Parliament, the headquarters of the Labour and
Conservative parties, and the National Crime Agencyy. Within thirtyy minutes
a total of 250 people connected to the experimental free hotspot. Most of
these were automatic connections made byy whatever device was being used.
In other words, the users didn’t consciouslyy choose the network: the device