Free Wi-Fi: Safety and Security be Darned!

You probably already know that Starbucks offers Wi-Fi free of charge at their locations. Some exceptions include ‘franchise’ stores like those at airports (which are typically belong to the food service provider that owns the relationship with the port).

There is a ton of free Wi-Fi out there; intentionally, or not. Access is available legitimately, or by “Wi-Fi Roguing” (stealing wireless Internet from unprotected networks) to private networks.

When looking (in advance, of course) use your search of choice; start with “WiFi zip code” in a search box; both Bing and Google will provide you a list.

So now you’ve found some Wi-Fi .. but you should be concerned that non-commercial / non-sponsored Wi-Fi may not be secure.

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks, Panera Bread or some other gathering place, falls into the ‘sponsored’ category, as does your local coffee shop, community center, etc. I would expect sponsored Wi-Fi to be legitimate; safe from folks who might collect credentials. Since you really don’t know the operator, this is a risk, and your corporate IT may suggest / insist on the use of a Smart Card or secure proxy.

When roguing, you’re totally at risk when you connect to an unknown network; whether owned by random private individual whose condo is in range, or some punk with a laptop putting up a familiar (think: ‘linksys’, ‘netgear’ or “Free Public Wi-Fi”) SSID.

Hell, even commercial SSIDs run the risk of being spoofed. See “Wi-Fi Access Point or Account Credential Honeypot?” for a detailed walk-through of my observations in range of a (most likely legitimate) AT&T public Wi-Fi hotspot.

If in doubt, don’t connect.

Original Post: October 15, 2007