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Hackers Strike Starbucks Wi-Fi Hotspots

by Tim Stevens on May 7, 2007 at 12:46 PM

Hotspots Hotter than You ThinkThink twice before you connect to that public Wi-Fi hotspot, because you could fall victim to a new and growing menace called an evil twin attack. It goes a little something like this: A ne'er-do-well uses a laptop to set up a clone of the login site you'd see at a place like Starbucks. You're there, sipping some ridiculously named cup of coffee and decide to get online. What you think is the official Starbucks entrance onto the Web is actually being routed through the hacker's computer, which sneakily keeps track of all the usernames and passwords you type in, regardless of how secure you think they may be.

Once they have that info, they can easily log into your accounts, change the password and lock you out. This technique -- a form of phishing -- allows the attacker to effectively bypass complex Wi-Fi encryption methods like WEP by tricking you into logging directly onto their machine, instead of trying to capture your information out of the air as it goes to the real hotspot.

What can you do? For one thing, try not to log on to bank accounts or other sensitive sites while you're using a public hotspot. But, more importantly, make sure that you always connect to official wireless access points and not just whatever your Wi-Fi device finds. If you see multiple hotspots and you're not sure which is legit, ask someone. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when your MySpace account is at risk!

From Times Online

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Tags: breaking+news, Hotspot, Starbucks, top, Wi-Fi

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