RE: Interlopers on the WLAN

["Frank O'Dwyer" <fod () brd ie>]

On Wed, 2002-11-06 at 10:29, Philip J. Koenig wrote: 
[...] 
> Mitnick was arrested while running over a stolen cellphone and  
> traversing a chain of at least 3-4 different networks to slow down 
> attempts to find him.  If he were doing this over someone's open WLAN 
> while parked on the street out front, all he'd need to do is drive 
> away and it would be next to impossible to find him.
True, but equally he might have tossed the cellphone out the window and
driven off into the sunset. The impression of WLAN anonymity may be just
as false. While someone is connected to a WLAN, they are certainly
revealing *something* about their location. Maybe a lot. If it's
possible to get a few arrests based on that fact then that may adjust
the attitudes of the attackers. 

> > Otherwise we may be stuck with one of two fairly ugly scenarios:
> > plausible deniability for Harry Hacker ("it wasn't me, someone must have
> > used my open WLAN"), or Harry Homeowner made liable for everything
> > originating from his connection.
>
> Personally I favor the latter example, since one should take 
> responsibility for one's actions - in this case, operating an 
> insecure network.  

This is a kind of 'blame the victim' approach. It would also be 
deeply hypocritical of the one bringing the charges, i.e. the
targets of the attack. After all, theirs may be the only network 
that was actually breached. How can they prosecute someone else
for "operating an insecure network", all on the basis that their
own flaky network just got turned over, without blatantly 
admitting that they operate an insecure network themselves?
 
I can't think of any reasonable definition of "operating an
insecure network" that doesn't apply first and foremost to the
target of any successful attack. OTOH, I can think of at least 
two reasonable definitions that *don't* necessarily apply to 
an open access point. 

[...] 
Cheers, 
Frank 




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