2nd Annual Wireless Security Conference 2007

I haven't been updating the blog over the last 2 weeks. I don't really have much of an excuse other then I've not had much time (and I've been rather ill too). I shall also keep this entry short (as I only had a few hours of sleep last night and am completely knackered!)

Today and tomorrow I will be attending the Annual Wireless Security Conference held at the Orchard Parade Hotel. The day's presentations ranged from a historical overview of wireless connectivity and the security features put in place from then to now, to common hacking activities and available protection procedures that can be implemented. Top Technology lawyer, and my former "boss", Bryan Tan also made a presentation of the current legal issues surrounding this area (and as expected was swamped with endless questions after from various people wanting free legal advice!)

The speakers were clearly of varied experience levels (some were down-right boring - one in particular did not even look at the audience almost the entire time!), but one thing was clear - they all felt that Internet connection today (wired or wireless) was highly vulnerable to a myriad of attacks (it IS so common that most of us don't realise we're attacked all the time!).

All the speakers were unanimous in their assertion that WEP (a basic form of protection which comes with most routers and modems that we pick up from the shops) are very easily broken. In fact, there was even a lively debate between 2 of the speakers on how fast it can be broken (although both seemed to agree that it could be done in under a minute!). They all of course advocated WPA2 (the latest Internet security offering) but suggested that it would be insufficient on its own (Internet security needs to be approached from many different directions. What I thought was troubling is that although WEP is common (and provided with most hardwares) it is seldom switched on by most home users! In other words, most home networks (wired or wireless) have no form of Internet security whatsoever!

What I also found interesting was that there are so many tools available on the Internet (many apparently opensourced ie free) which can perform these attacks automatically. This means that almost anyone (even a non-techie like me) could potentially become a "hacker" (of course I use this term in the more colloquial, non-traditional, way - I hope I don't upset any technology experts who perhaps would prefer I use the term "cracker" or something else).

I also learnt today that there is no full-proof security procedure or strategy and that perhaps we should always be mindful of the security risks that are present on the Internet. This means that keeping sensitive information on laptops and emails should be avoided. Fears concerning online financial transactions like trading online or even Internet Banking may be therefore genuine.

Anyways, I shall leave the subject here for now and ponder over it somemore (as I lay in my thinking zone... "where the magic happens"... aka my bed) and add more comments tomorrow.

ciao..