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Democratic Convention Computer Security Threat? 337

Posted by CmdrTaco from the don't-point-that-laptop-at-me-sir dept.
Hiawatha writes "Excuse me for tooting my own horn, but check out my story in today's Boston Globe about a possible security problem at the Democratic convention next week. If visitors plug insecure laptops with wireless connections into the convention's wired network, there could be trouble..."
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Democratic Convention Computer Security Threat? More

Democratic Convention Computer Security Threat?

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  • anybody setting up an AP? (Score:5, Funny)

    by UnderAttack ( 311872 ) * on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:05PM (#9772343) Homepage
    Hm. Taking over the Jumbotron is probably the ultimate "Capture the Flag" contest.

  • Not a realy problem (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AlbanySux ( 248858 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:07PM (#9772367)
    From what I have heard, they are not allowing wi-fi of any kind. Not because its a security risk but because it can interfer with the equipment they really care about. the mic's and cameras and radios used to make sure everything goes smoothely.

    I don't think there will be too much trouble with this. Just another company spreading the FUD trying to make a buck.

    • Re:Not a realy problem (Score:4, Interesting)

      by afidel ( 530433 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:12PM (#9772425)
      Uh, so they are going to ban laptop's? As the article points out over half of laptops sold in the last year have WiFi built in. Thanks to XP's auto-connect for WiFi if a person was able to setup an AP outside they could surely find an XP laptop which could be compromised which was plugged into the wired network. THAT is what the article is talking about.

      • Uh, so they are going to ban laptop's?

        Quite the opposite, probably, since they're giving press credentials to bloggers like Atrios and DailyKos. Presumably they're hoping that they'll blog right from the convention floor.

  • Um... "Hiawatha Bray"? (Score:4, Funny)

    by boomgopher ( 627124 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:08PM (#9772378) Journal
    ummmmmmm... is that your real name?

    • Re:Um... "Hiawatha Bray"? (Score:5, Informative)

      by goober ( 120298 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:12PM (#9772424)

      ummmmmmm... is that your real name?

      yes, that's his real name [monitortan.com]. He's been regurgitating FUD pieces in the Globe for years now...

    • ...and of(I believe, hard to judge from the one photo I've seen of him) of African decent, so stop trolling.

      Oh, and he has posted both stories and comments before on slashdot, and written articles for the globe on topics slashdot has brought attention to.

      I think he dumbs down his articles too much for the Globe(or it would be nice to see some high-level articles, not just simple stuff), given that the Boston area is the technology center of the east coast- but otherwise, I like what he does.

      I have zer

    • Not only is it his real name, but I recall signing him up for his first Boston-area dialup account in December '95. He was a TIAC [archive.org] subscriber back in the day. I even took a couple of late-night support calls from him. You don't forget a guy named Hiawatha.

  • What? (Score:4, Funny)

    by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda@nOSpAM.etoyoc.com> on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:09PM (#9772381) Homepage Journal
    My network just assumes that everybody is a stranger, and anything of value refuses to talk to anyone without a known MAC address.

    Well at least it would, but I wound up disabling all that so the CEO could get on E-Bay.

    • Re:What? (Score:2)

      by swb ( 14022 )
      My network just assumes that everybody is a stranger, and anything of value refuses to talk to anyone without a known MAC address.

      You mean they willingly talk to any old spoofed MAC address?
      • Well if you are going to trouble to spoof a MAC address, then you have already figured out how the switching equipment is going to magically route packets to two places at once.

        What? You mean those goofy numbers are actually important to the level 2 switching equipment...

        For the record, cloning the MAC number from your desktop to a broadband router is rather straightforward. Your router is plugged into the same port on the same network, and is merely assuming the ID of your computer.

        If you try to have

        • Re:What? (Score:2)

          by swb ( 14022 )
          Just because they're switches doesn't make them omniscient.

          You can get MAC addresses by hearing broadcasts, so finding them is easy. As for overridding the switches MAC table, you can sometimes flood them with a ton of traffic (with a flood of bogus MAC addresses), which can allow the spoofed one to be right "right" port.

          Don't think that just because you have a switched environment you're safe from spoofing.

  • But, but, but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by fizban ( 58094 ) <fizban@umich.edu> on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:09PM (#9772382) Homepage
    Who in their right mind would want to hack into the democratic convention? The only ones I can think of are Republicans, and we all know they never do anything illegal like that...
    • It won't be the Dems... the average laptop won't fit down their pants.
    • The only ones I can think of are Republicans, and we all know they never do anything illegal like that...

      I know, Democrats [boston.com] never [amazon.com] do anything wrong.

      Those two links suck, but you get the idea. Politics is all a bunch of corrupt lawbreaking, no matter WHAT side you're on.
    • Who in their right mind would want to hack into the democratic convention? The only ones I can think of are Republicans, and we all know they never do anything illegal like that...

      True enough, but what if some of them Liberals get the idea that they should crack their own net and blame it on the Republicans?

      Did ya think of that?

      Or what if some "rough" Republican crack the convention network and blames it on a Democrat, saying they are trying to discredit the Republicans?

      Or what if some . . .
      umm, never

    • Spies from Russia, China, France and 120 of the UN 159 not to mention the Republicans proably have been assigned laptops by the Democrats and will have no need to lurk in vans before reporting to their pals in Los Alamos. Quit worrying!

  • so what's new? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stonebeat.org ( 562495 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:09PM (#9772387) Homepage
    the article doesn't contain any new info. Everyone know how unsecure network connections can be at conventions. everyone know they can cause havoc.

    Even the SANS conference, with all the security gurus, had issues with providing network connectivity. That is why they longer provide network connectivity, WiFi or otherwise, in classrooms.
    • SANS still provides WIFI at conferences. It is not intended to reach into classrooms to avoid distractions. But typically, you can still get it in the classrooms that are close to the terminal room. SANS does use a 'nocat' style authentication system. Its unencrypted as everyone would have to use the same WEP key anyway. Well, but after all, thats what tools like ipsec and ssh are for.

    • I believe sans does still provide wifi. Blackhat and defcon certainly do. Good luck even using defcon's, though, with all of the kiddies and their disassociation tools.

  • Stupid fears.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by heyitsme ( 472683 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:09PM (#9772392) Homepage
    The Democratic convention will use a standard wired network rather than WiFi. But according to Maggio, this won't provide any extra security. That's because many visitors who'll plug into the network will have computers with built-in WiFi capability. The WiFi feature is automatically switched on when the computer is running. In effect, the laptop can connect to a wired and a wireless network at the same time.

    So... let me get this straight... they are going to connect to my laptop's wireless NIC, and then piggyback onto the wired connection? Riiiiight... This would be tough to accomplish... even in Windows.

    Maggio said that an attacker with a high-powered WiFi access point could set up shop outside the FleetCenter, and communicate with WiFi laptops on the inside. If these laptops haven't been protected with the latest security patches, a skilled intruder will be able to gain access to the laptop. He could then leapfrog onto the Democrats' network, allowing him to steal information or vandalize computers. ''By being on both networks at the same time," said Maggio, ''that can compromise the entire network security."

    Odds are, these laptops have already been 0wn3d..
    • Ah heck, just compromise the laptops when they are back in the wilds of the Hotel network, then have them phone home once they get inside. Won't be hard. Just put a billboard to a porn site up outside the hotel that points to a server that exploits and IE flaw.

    • Re:Stupid fears.... (Score:3, Informative)

      by afidel ( 530433 )
      So... let me get this straight... they are going to connect to my laptop's wireless NIC, and then piggyback onto the wired connection? Riiiiight... This would be tough to accomplish... even in Windows.

      Yes, because clicking on bridge connection is SO difficult *cough*.
      • But then the laptop owner would need to be a willing participant, which is not what the article discusses. WiFi is not even an issue if someone who wants to break into the system can get the credentials to attend the convention... they'd just need to plug in their laptop.
    • All they have to do is turn on 'internet sharing' for the wifi port ... instant gateway ....

      I'm sure a virus or 2 is out there to do this for you automatically..

      Only takes one malicious ( or clueless ) person..

  • Obligatory MS Bashing ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by SteveM ( 11242 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:10PM (#9772403)

    From the article:

    But Garcia insisted the Democrats have the computer security situation well in hand, with the help of security specialists from Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. ''People can rest assured that we are aware of the need for a strong security system for our technology infrastructure," said Garcia, reading from a prepared statement, ''and we are working with our partners, Cisco and Microsoft, to ensure that our systems remain secure."

    Let the oxymoron jokes commence!

    SteveM

  • Democrats have techies on their side... (Score:5, Funny)

    by A_GREER ( 761429 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:11PM (#9772416)
    How can they get hacked when it was AL Gore who invented the internet...

    • ObCounterMeme (Score:4, Informative)

      by Bearpaw ( 13080 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:56PM (#9772879)
      How can they get hacked when it was AL Gore who invented the internet...

      Har. Har.

      It was Republicans who invented that claim. What Gore actually said was "I took the initiative in creating the Internet". Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf -- two of the people who did "invent the internet" have publicly stated that "Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development." Repub spinmasters pushed the reworded version hard as part of their successful effort to exaggerate Gore's supposed exaggerations.

      (The Repub spin this time around is that Kerry always "flip-flops". That's the script, and they're pushing it hard. I guess this is to distinguish him from Bush, who sometimes flip-flops and sometimes sticks to his opinions ... regardless of the facts.)

    • Unfortunately, he's on Apple's Board of Directors, and the DNC is using MS products.
  • Garcia insisted the Democrats have the computer security situation well in hand, with the help of security specialists from Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. ''People can rest assured that we are aware of the need for a strong security system for our technology infrastructure," said Garcia, reading from a prepared statement, ''and we are working with our partners, Cisco and Microsoft, to ensure that our systems remain secure."

    Nothing to see here. Move along.

  • really secret stuff (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pocomoonshiine ( 726350 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:17PM (#9772479)
    Maybe somebody at the DNC has compromising pictures of George Bush getting wads of money stuffed up... oh wait, that wouldn't be news. (Same applies to Mr. Kerry) Just what sort of top secret information does anybody expect to snag? This is a planned media circus, not a cigar smoke-filled warroom meeting.

    I don't see how the security vulnerabilities at the DNC are any different than any business, convention, or hotel on any day in any city.
  • To help improve security the following items should be confiscated as people enter the convention:

    • Pants
    • Socks
    • Ethernet cables
    • Wireless cards
  • They're going to use "free speech" zones for anti-war protestors. So much for being any different that bush. For a party that supposedly is Liberal they do seem to have a very distorted notion what liberalism is. Here's a lively discussion on it. http://www.peopleforchange.net/forums/index.php?sh owtopic=14871 [peopleforchange.net]
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Oh come on, take a look at the surrounding posts. Most of these people grew up on the two-party system, and as far as their little brains are concerned, republicans and democrats are two completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. I agree with your post, but I'd be more shocked if someone on /. actually recognized the vast similarity between the U.S.'s two dominating circus parties. Let's hope these parrots don't reproduce.

  • Hmmm not really democratic specific... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by merlin_jim ( 302773 ) <James@McCracken.stratapult@com> on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:27PM (#9772581)
    Don't bash on the democrats. This has been a problem ever since wireless networking has become ubiquitous in every convention, company, and private network. The democrats are no more or less susceptible than anyone else...

  • Hey... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Otter ( 3800 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:28PM (#9772597) Journal
    ...at least the Globe has found a story besides "Why can't you whiny Bostonians take the convention in stride, like New Yorkers?"

    As long as Globe writers are reading Slashdot, perhaps someone could clarify this mystery:

    • Yesterday's paper claimed that "11% of Boston businesses" believe they'll make more money as a result of the DNC, with 78% expecting the same or less>
    • Today's paper featured the Causeway Street pizzeria owner who put up a pro-Bush banner and is closing his store for the week and going to Canada, expecting more trouble than business if he stays open.
    Excuse me? If a guy who owns a freaking pizzeria across the freaking street from the Fleet Center doesn't think the convention is worth any money, who the hell are those 11% of business owners who think they'll benefit?
    • Probably people with more business sense then putting up a Bush banner across from the convention and closing shop during what will probably be that spots bussiest week in history?
      • Probably people with more business sense then putting up a Bush banner across from the convention and closing shop during what will probably be that spots bussiest week in history?

        Heh. Shows what lengths some people will go to to avoid exposure to opposing opinions. If it's the place I'm thinking of, they've got a TV in there that's usually tuned to Faux News ("We Distort, You Comply").

        To be fair, I'm not entirely sure I blame him, though I like to think I'd stick it out if I was in a similar positi

    • Re:Hey... (Score:2)

      by tgd ( 2822 )
      Nobody is going to benefit, except the places renting out rooms and the fancier restaurants in those areas.

      Other business are being crippled, other reports have talked about smaller stores that may not survive a week of no one being able to get to them.

      If Menino (the Mayor of Boston) wasn't so high on himself, he would've put thet convention at the super modern brand new convention center where it wouldn't have impacted anything, but no... he wanted to show off the city and as a result totally screwed up
    • who the hell are those 11% of business owners who think they'll benefit? Hotels and escort services.

  • Quakecon? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Sporkinum ( 655143 )
    In a similar light, I was wondering what kind of mayhem will ensue at Quakecon. I'm sure there will be a ton of virus/worm spewing boxes plugged into the byoc lan.
  • Somewhere Karl Rove is twirling his mustache and recruiting neocon script kiddies.

  • Basic precaution (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Albanach ( 527650 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:32PM (#9772623) Homepage
    If the Democrats have any sense, any non trusted computers are going to live on a different subnet to their trusted systems, with no routing between the two networks. The trusted systems should be using a VPN to make sure any network traffic they're emitting is encrypted.

    That way, sure someone can hijack a laptop, but all they get to do is piggy back on the Democrat's internet connection or target other machines on the untrusted network.

    Sure it's possible they haven't thought of this, but it's such a basic precaution I find it hard to believe. If they're letting any untrusted computers on to their network they have to treat the physical network like the internet - untrusted jsut like the guest PCs.

    • This is such an obvious problem I can not believe it made the news. What the parent to this post proposed should work. I believe it could also be called a bastion host on a perimeter network.

      Page 107 of the O'Rielly Building Internet Firewalls

    • This is my principle problem with the article in question. The actual people running the convention only get a brief paragraph in the end saying this:

      Lina Garcia, press secretary for the Democratic convention, refused to say whether such a system is in place in the FleetCenter. Indeed, she refused to offer any details about computer security plans, to keep potential intruders in the dark.

      But Garcia insisted the Democrats have the computer security situation well in hand, with the help of security spec

  • I care about closures, rights, financial losses (Score:3, Informative)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:43PM (#9772725)

    I don't give a hoot about their wireless network. What I care about are the massive road closures. Virtually every major route in and out of Boston, and several arteries, will be either completely or effectively closed down, starting as early as 3pm.

    I-93 is being completely shut down through Boston, despite being a major interstate. The secret service is to blame for inventing imaginary truck bombs and placing the possible risks to security of the privileged few over the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people- workers in Boston were essentially told to fuck off and take a vacation during the convention. Menino and the DNC are to blame for ignoring obvious potential "security considerations" inherent in the Fleet Center; the new convention center would have done nicely, except it wouldn't have gotten the delegates their precious stadium seating, nor would it have given the press their precious skyboxes. Oh, and it would have meant a longer cab drive to the hotel. Boo hoo, poor rich politicians.

    I can't see Kerry doing very well at all in working-class neighborhoods in eastern MA. In fact, I'd be willing to bet he'll loose them in a landslide. Virtually everyone I've met who has to commute into boston is unbelievably -PISSED- at the convention.

    Oh, and then there are the random package searches on the MBTA, the closing of North Station (which is IN the Fleet Center), the mandatory searches on the Orange Line...what else? Oh, the Boston Patrollman's Association is going to be picketing ALL the DNC parties, which has hurt the few local businesses which were lucky enough to get some DNC business; losses were estimated at $80M statewide, but will most likely be higher thanks to BPA.

    Let's see, what else? Ah, yes. The "internment camp", oops, I mean, "free speech zone", which is a fenced-in pen topped with barbed wire. Yeah, great idea- let's put right-wing nutjobs(Christian Coalition) in with extreme left fruitcakes into a TINY little box, with ONE entrance and ONE exit. Nah, they won't fight with each other!

    • I can't see Kerry doing very well at all in working-class neighborhoods in eastern MA. In fact, I'd be willing to bet he'll loose them in a landslide. Virtually everyone I've met who has to commute into boston is unbelievably -PISSED- at the convention.

      The Democrats are *so* lucky they're pulling this fiasco in a state that's completely out of play. If this were Florida or Michigan, Kerry could kiss the election goodbye right now.>

      Let's see, what else? Ah, yes. The "internment camp", oops, I mean, "fr

    • > The "internment camp", oops, I mean, "free speech zone", which is a fenced-in pen topped with barbed wire. Yeah, great idea- let's put right-wing nutjobs(Christian Coalition) in with extreme left fruitcakes into a TINY little box, with ONE entrance and ONE exit.

      Personally, I think this is where the WiFi laptops belong. With webcams. And live pay-per-view feeds. And a betting pool. Oh yeah :)

      "Two men enter! One man leaves! Who run Freedomtown? Master Blaster run Freedomtown!"

    • The DNC's major idiocy was to have the convention in the capital city of a state with a Republican governor. "Gosh, some of the logistics aren't going very smoothly." Duh.
    • Your tax dollars are paying for it all. Yep, you get to pay to get screwed.

      Have a nice day. :)

  • zerg (Score:4, Informative)

    by Lord Omlette ( 124579 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:46PM (#9772752) Homepage
    Granite Island Group has already one-upped [cryptome.org] this story. Fuck wireless security, we're talking about actual bona fide security problems here.
  • Those wily hackers will find out who Kerry's running mate is going to be! Or even worse, they'll find out the key planks in the Democrats platforms! What, exactly, does Hiawatha think the hackers are going to steal, anyway? Are there any secrets of interest at this convention?
    • actually, there could be canpighn information that they don't want the opposing party to find out about ahead of time.

      There is always the possible that someone could PUT something incremenating onto a system.

  • Here's what they need... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FirstTimeCaller ( 521493 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @02:59PM (#9772908)

    The DNC might want to invest in several of these little goodies [globalgadgetuk.com]. Power them up and problem solved.

  • Will web security be a factor?

    [I'm mostly joking, but it is somewhat interesting that the two major parties don't even agree on web platforms.]

  • When it seems technology moves too slow, consider that 4 years is a very long time in the computer world.

    1981 - start of Reagan 1st term. IBM PC barely exists.

    1985 - Reagan 2nd term. Amiga still months from introduction.

    1989 - Bush Sr. 1st term. Gopher looks like it's going to be a real winner.

    1993 - Bill Clinton 1st term. Most people are stil l having trouble accessing more than 1 Megabyte of memory. Microsoft offers users "himem.sys" as a solution. Linux begins to change all that.

    1997 - Bill clinton
  • "Who in their right mind would want to hack into the democratic convention? The only ones I can think of are Republicans, and we all know they never do anything illegal like that..."

    They only need to say that it's part of a terrorism investigation, and then the carrier is required to let them snoop the wired network, and the carrier is prohibited from revealing the snooping -- EVER, even long after the fact -- and, oh yeah, I forgot to mention, no judge or warrant required.

    They don't have to do it illegal

  • From the article:

    But Garcia insisted the Democrats have the computer security situation well in hand, with the help of security specialists from Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. ''People can rest assured that we are aware of the need for a strong security system for our technology infrastructure," said Garcia, reading from a prepared statement, ''and we are working with our partners, Cisco and Microsoft, to ensure that our systems remain secure." [emphasis mine]

    And this, my friends, is why Ke

    • The familiar joke about Democrats being stupid but passionate and Republicans being cold but smart seems to fit this situation rather well, unfortunately

      So which Party is smart and passionate and which Party gets to be cold and stupid? ;-)

      • Re:Aside (Score:2, Offtopic)

        by gillbates ( 106458 )

        Well, what I heard went something like this:

        • If you're not a Democrat when you're young, it's because you have no heart.
        • If you're not a Republican when you're older, it's because you have no brain.

  • Practical security (Score:3, Interesting)

    by syrinje ( 781614 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @03:27PM (#9773177)
    The democratic convention is only providing wired security so that people who bring their own notebooks to the party can plug in and share their dirty pictures with each other.

    So WiFi security is not something the Convention IT staff can control, with or without WEP

    Nearly a 100% of all notebook computers brought to the convention will have WiFi built-in to them. A few sensible folks will have their notebooks configured to only latch onto "known" access points using wep. The rest will have their WiFi settings set to allow both ad-hoc and infrastructure mode and to connect automatically. These people, while probably smart and successful in other ways, are likely to be morons who are network-retarded.

    As a result they are unlikely to realise that while they are busy and connected to the wired network, their computers have also connected automatically to the blackHatAP that has been setup in the closed-for-the weekend in the Pizzeria across the street. A convenient and cheap SEP field will prevent them from seeing small message dialogs that inform them of these events.

    Some of these notebooks, as a result of belonging to irresponible morons, will already be 0wn3d. They are twice as likely to not be updated using windos update..

    In short these computers will behave pretty much the same as the drunk chick flahing her tits at Dayton Beach on spring break (altho why we only see photos of them on the internet and never meet any of these tipsy goddesses IRL is beyond me. Oh wait, that probably cuz I'm here instead of there.!)

    I would lay a wager of 10 bucks at odds of 5-1 that at least 5% of the notebooks on-site will automatically latch onto the first available AP AND be unpatched enough to allow arbitrary code execution using a buffer overflow vulnerability on some port OR have a trojan installed which can be leveraged to execute said code

    What is the hapless IT support guy to do? Here are a few ideas -

    1. Ban all notebooks since you cant physically inspect the WiFi settings for the visitors. This idea will probably get you fired though. The morons are rich and powerful and will get their way in penetrating your network with their toys. Being a BOFH is only going to get you shafted.

    2. Set up your own AP with repeaters all over the place and hope the ho-ing notebooks latch on to your WiFi network first. I am sure this is not foolproof, but will probably bring down your risk by 70%. The boundary cases here are truly that - the notebooks on the wifi edge might see a better signal from blackHatAP and kiss up to it.

    3. This may not be legal in your Locale/state/country. Adherence to local laws is your responsibility. Disclaimer made, heres the option - Install a jammer for WiFi frequencies. Better yet, if you have the Secret servce on hand, get them to do it. Simple and efficient. Unintended Interference is a bizatch though.

    I thought about the option of setting up a WiFi farm that would create its own /. effect on the BlackHatAP but that wouldn't scale well if the BlackHat set up more than one AP....


  • I hope Hiawatha and the Globe paid for the primo advertising spot.

    This is even a self-admitted attempt to get more traffic to his own article, which is an article he wrote for pay for a news organization that wants more page traffic. Never mind that he gets paid depending on how many people have heard of him.

    So, how much does it cost to buy a slashdot story? Is there a discount for frequent buyers?

  • Wireless Virus? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TheSync ( 5291 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @03:37PM (#9773295) Journal
    At a technical conference earlier this year, I noticed something going between a few machines that looked a lot like a wireless virus, but was unable to capture it properly (they weren't my machines, I was just trying to shut down rouge APs).

    The trick is being able to turn a normal laptop into an access point, then spreading the virus to other machines as they "automagically" try to connect to whatever AP they can find. Then those infected computers turn into APs, etc.
  • This type of thing has happened before, but in this case we did have a 802.11A/B/G network running as well as wired. There is no solution to prevent it from happening (short of forcing people not to bridge their connections), but there are ways to detect and contain it. The netadmins just need to setup something that will also talk to these bridged 802.11A/B/G cards. Once they detect a bridge, find out what hardwired port they are coming through, find the Mac address, penalty box the mac address, and you
  • Hiawatha Bray [m-w.com]

    Indeed.

    Fortunately, Democrats have been listening to their base, and while network security may be a problem at the convetion, Some Democrats have been moving secret information the old-fashioned way:

    In [tnr.com] their [belgraviadispatch.com] pants. [washingtonpost.com]

    Happily, they still have time to make sure that those who disagree with them will have to sit at the back of the bus:

    Cement barriers, 8-foot-tall chain-link fencing, and heavy black netting have been installed around the protest zone outside the FleetCenter, angering pr [instapundit.com]

  • This has already happened in the past. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bombadillo ( 706765 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @04:34PM (#9773766)
    The republicans already have hacked [stargeek.com] some democrat computers.

  • Pull the plug on them. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mal-2 ( 675116 ) on Thursday July 22, 2004 @07:34PM (#9775082) Homepage Journal
    Have someone (or several someones) walking the convention hall floor with sniffers. Any machine found to be transmitting packets via WiFi gets the plug pulled on the wired network. Since every location in the hall is numbered, a simple call back to the network center can get them switched off without having to physically confront them. However, I just like the idea of a guy walking up with scissors and SNIPPING them.

    Maybe they should hire Nigerian guards.

    Signs would be posted all over -- "TURN OFF YOUR WIFI OR YOUR NETWORK CONNECTION WILL BE TURNED OFF. If you do not know how to do this, please call 1-900-xxx-xxxx ($3.95/minute) for assistance." Using the number of a phone sex line would not be funny. (OK, yes it would, but it's still not a very good idea.)

    Mal-2

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