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Network Securities and Vulnerabilities

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Joshua Ivy posted Apr 21, 2019 6:06 PM

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Wireless communication is only as good as the encryptions used on both ends. Even then, weak passwords or outdated encryption protocols can expose individuals to unknown risks like wardriving. "The original term was derived from the movie, War games, that used “war dialing”" ("What is Wardriving?,"n.d.). The process involves a vehicle, laptop or smartphone, and antenna often external of the vehicle. Driving around a city, they will map the area in efforts to find unsecured networks to exploit. Oddly, this method is not considered illegal.

A common variation of this practice is RF key sniffing. Most adults utilize some form of electronic interaction with either unlocking or starting their vehicle. RF key sniffing also uses an antenna and is within proximity of the vehicle they want to steal. The attacker knows the year, make, and model of the vehicle. They search the FCC website to verify which frequency range to monitor. Once the user presses a button on their keychain to unlock the vehicle, the sniffer captures those packets of data in encrypted form. Once the vehicle responds to the request to unlock the vehicle, the attacker's laptop captures this data as well. After it has both sides of the transaction, it takes around one minute for it to decrypt and allow the attacker to unlock and start the vehicle, if capable.

Hotspots are ideal for limited use. Using them to make purchases, pay bills or other interactions involving sensitive data; is ill-advised. Utilizing a mobile phone alongside a VPN and only accessing HTTPS sites while on hotspots will help limit security vulnerabilities. As demonstrated with RF key, anything broadcasted over unprotected networks can and often will be exploited. However, mobile phones heavily scrutinize their application markets and enforce stricter security policies than computer makers. Unlike Windows where you can download any application and install it; Apple restricts applications on their devices to the App Store only. This practice allows Apple to verify the applications you are able to use and limit those with malicious code.

References: What is Wardriving? (n.d.). Retrieved from  http://www.tech-faq.com/wardriving.html