Testing the Wi-Fi Network's Configuration Using PING

When you attach to a public access Wi-Fi network you are assigned an IP address through a DHCP server. A correctly configured, commercial-grade access point at a well-designed HotSpot or HotZone should be configured to not allow wireless clients to detect the presence of other wireless clients. This feature is sometimes called, "Disable peer-to-peer networking", or some similar menu checkbox in the access point configuration. You can test to see if the access points are properly configured by running a simple PING scan. If you don't have a PING utility, you can try pinging the IP address that is numerically one or two digits lower than the one you've been assigned.

You can run a PING scan on any public access HotSpot or HotZone that you're using, just to verify the security and intrusion detection status of the network. In some corporate visitor access sites a PING scan may be detected as an intrusion attempt an your machine might get locked out of the network, so be careful.

Shown to the right is the result of the PING scan run at the vacation resort where this story takes place. We're not going to tell you where this was, but let's just say this is a world-class, high-end luxury resort on the ocean, with other luxury resorts on both sides along the beach. What you see in the PING scan is that multiple user devices are clearly visible. If a user's laptop computer is visible in a PING scan it is open for attack by a hacker.

Remember that these users are being exposed to unauthorized access because the network administrator or the wireless network consultant for the resort failed to click the appropriate check box in the access point configuration which would have disabled peer-to-peer communication across the wireless network. In Connect802's opinion, there is no excuse for this and exposing all the resort's users to this type of security loophole is inexcusable.

But, there's more...

Viewing Shared File Directories Under Windows

The "My Network Places" option under Microsoft Windows causes a computer to interrogate the visible network in search of available shared file volumes. By default, every Windows machine has a directory called "Shared Documents". It's very common to find that users allow this directory to remain shared, often without even realizing that they are exposing their machine to the rest of the world.

Exposing shared files becomes a problem when a user 1) doesn't realize they're doing it (very common). and 2) when the public access HotSpot or HotZone network is improperly configured so as to allow shared files to be indiscriminately exposed.

When you click on the image to the right you'll see that a number of different user's machines are exposed. One of them turned out to be a catastrophic exposure for a user named Judy. We don't know who Judy is, but what we see is that she has some interesting directories, totally unsecured, which include:

• Citi Bank Bkup
• Q04Files
• SecurDataStor
• SecurDataStorRM

Poor Judy, she failed to heed all the warnings in the media, on television, and from any experienced computer user: "Protect Yourself From Hackers!" There's no internet security or personal firewall active on her machine, and it looks like here financial data is available for all to see.

Judy Has Exposed Her Personal Financial Data!

Simply clicking on one of the shared directories brings up Judy's private financial data. Yep, there is it - for all the world to see. How easy would it be for a criminal to clean out this poor woman's bank accounts; all the personal information is right there, right down to social security numbers, bank account numbers, amounts of transactions... everything.

Judy has made a terrible mistake. She has allowed critical financial information to be exposed on the wireless network. Perhaps a curious high school student will download here information and use it to make on-line purchases. Perhaps the information in the SecurDataStor or Q04Files directories is her companies financial data and the company will be the victim of Internet theft and fraud. The illegal possibilities are endless!

The wireless network administrator or consultant who helped set up the resorts Wi-Fi network is equally to blame here.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AS SIMPLE AS CHECKING A CHECK-BOX TO PROTECT JUDY FROM HER OWN OVERSIGHT

Remember, a simple configuration option (that should be active in every public access network) would have prevented any wireless user from detecting the presence of any other wireless user. That simple change would have provided a responsible level of protection for the user's of the resort's wireless LAN.

How to Protect Yourself

To perform a simple security test, start by turning off your Wi-Fi adapter on your notebook computer and unplugging from the Ethernet if you are plugged in. Go to the My Network Places list (for Windows machines) and select the Add Network Place option. You will now be able to view other network locations. When you Browse for an Internet or Network Address you'll see the list of every shared resource. Since you are not connected to any network the only shared resources you're going to see are the ones you're sharing locally from your computer. If you don't have a personal firewall active on your computer then if you can see these shared resources, so can anyone else on a wireless network to which you're attached - unless the wireless network is properly configured to prevent peer-to-peer communication.

Don't be like Judy!