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Use WiFi hotspot = go to jail?

Another "big scare story" about WiFi security: use a hotspot, and you're liable. How? You might leave a virus on the seat.

"Ken Munro, managing director of network testing company Securetest, told IT Pro that unwary laptop users are spreading a trail of vulnerability behind them as they work in public places," said the new web site's Guy Matthews this week.

"This is leading," he said, "to a new kind of threat for which there could be serious consequences for the whole enterprise."

It works like this (he says) - you might be pulled into an ad-hoc network, managed by a crook. You might infect other hotspot users. They might be part of a wot-net. A wot?

"This is because the wot-net (wireless botnet) harnesses together disparate laptops and instructs them to rebroadcast a signal without the knowledge of the user. In effect, this triggers the laptop to pass on the connection like a virus and places the end-user in breach of the Computer Misuse Act."

Usually stories like this come from security consultants trying to whip up trade. Is this? "Wireless botnets are a bona fide threat, says Rob Bamforth, senior analyst with research firm Quocirca. "This isn't one of those things security companies come up with to scare people," he said.

Moral: don't set your laptop to accept ad-hoc network connections. Set it to use only "infrastructure" mode links.

Tags: WiFi, hotspot, virus, wot-net