Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless Laptops At Democratic Convention May Pose Big Risk

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:09:28 -0400

Gregg Keizer
 TechWeb News

July 23, 2004

Thousands of people will gather in Boston beginning Sunday for the
Democratic National Convention - many of them armed with
wireless-enabled
laptops that could present major security problems, a Boston-area firm
says.

Although the convention itself will rely on a wired network, there are
hundreds of unsecured wireless access points and cards around and about
the
FleetCenter, home to the convention, according to tests done by Newbury
Networks, a provider of location-based wireless security solutions.

In a pair of day-long drives around the FleetCenter in July, Newbury
easily
found thousands of unsecured access points and hundreds in the immediate
area of the FleetCenter, said Matthew Gray, the company's chief
technology
officer, who adds that the unsecured access points and cards could pose
a
serious problem at the convention.

Hackers could loiter outside of the FleetCenter, then use the unsecured
hotspots to gain access to Wi-Fi-enabled laptops carried by journalists,
delegates, and others, perhaps by exploiting vulnerabilities on
unpatched
machines. From there, attackers could use the compromised machines to
gain
access to the convention's wired network, where they might be able to
dig
up sensitive information or launch a denial-of-service attack on the
network to throw a wrench into the proceedings.

The leap from compromised wireless laptop to the convention's wired
network
is possible, said Gray, because most Wi-Fi notebooks automatically
connect
to any access point within range, even as they're on the wired network.
"Laptops could be on both networks--wireless and wired--at the same
time,"
he said. "That's a much more insidious kind of threat than a rogue user
simply connecting to an access point."

As Gray and others drove near the FleetCenter and at times parked in
lots
close to the site, they detected unsecured access points and cards using
the traditional "war drive" tactic of using a Wi-Fi notebook of their
own,
as well as with slightly more sophisticated gear and the company's WiFi
Watchdog software.

"We used a high-gain antenna to draw in signals from access points as
far
away as two or three miles," he said. Such antennas are
inexpensive--$30--and can even be made out of a Pringles can. "Just type
'Pringles' and 'wireless' on Google," said Gray. "You'll be amazed."

Even though physical security at the convention is expected to be tight,
Gray was surprised that their forays didn't raise any eyebrows. "We were
never stopped by police, even with an antenna pointed out the window of
the
car, " he said. "That was a little distressing."

The wireless security problem is exacerbated, Gray said, because four
years
ago, when the Democrats last put on their convention, wireless was a
rarity. "Wireless security issues aren't really new, but to a group like
this that puts on an event only every four years, they're very new."

The convention will essentially be a wireless-free zone, with no open
access available. But select users such as media photographers will have
access to hot spots near their workstations. These nodes, as well as
those
deployed around each state's delegation, will be managed by convention's
own technology group. It's the access points outside their control that
worry security experts like Gray.

Information stored on the convention's own computers may not contain
confidential information, but if it does, the data may be at risk to
theft.
More troublesome, said Gray, would be a denial-of-service attack
unleashed
via vulnerable laptops linked to the wired network inside the
FleetCenter.
A determined attack could bring down the convention's computer network,
crippling the event.

As an example of the pervasiveness of wireless devices around the
FleetCenter, Gray noted that during their war drives, a wireless card
tried
to connect with the open access point they had set up in the car about
every two minutes. Some laptops or other devices tried to connect
repeatedly, likely without the user even knowing it was happening.

More disturbing, however, was that two out of every three wireless
networks
they detected sported no encryption or had it disabled, making
exploitation
relatively easy. "I thought we'd find some unsecured access points and
cards," Gray said. "But unfortunately, my expectations were greatly
exceeded."

The Democratic National Convention Committee did not return a call for
comment.

 TechWeb News

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=25600183&tid=5978

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