Aunty told you about wifi hotspot evil twins, but you didn’t quite believe her, did you?
Well, attendees of the Wireless LAN Event in England this past week are believers now, after hackers infiltrated the conference, and set up an evil twin hotspot right there at the conference, in a room full of, oh the irony, security experts.
And oh, how nasty this evil twin was! “It downloads 45 different randomly generated viruses, worms and keyloggers so antivirus software doesn’t protect it. It doesn’t recognise the signatures,” explained AirDefense’s Spencer Parker.
The intruders even brazenly labelled their bogus hotspot “T-Mobile”, along with “BTOpenzone”, and the more pedestrian “Free_Internet_Access”.
There is no word on how many people may have fallen for the trick, or what information was compromised, and conference organizers weren’t talking.
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This is real folks, and if it can happen to a group of wireless security experts, it can happen to you.
To review what measures you can take to help protect yourself from falling prey to evil twins, see Aunty’s article Wifi Hotspot Evil Twins Mimic Wifi Hotspots and Steal Your Data”.
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
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I hope some people will take this irony with a grain of salt.
They should apply it to some kind of countermeasure next time a large wifi event takes place.. I am sure there were plenty of other “evil geniuses” besides the “hackers” at this event. In the future someone should grab a “20” on the hotspot before the ball starts rolling. “The worst offenders always hide in the last place we would ever consider”