Wi-Fi delivers high-speed Internet access to your cab or anywhere in a truck stop —
no more hunting for a phone jack. But Wi-Fi has one potential drawback for the unwary — security.

Wi-Fi, which stands for wireless fidelity, is a technology that provides high-speed Internet access through a wireless network.

by Bill Hudgins

Less than eight years ago, I well recall a truckstop operator scoffing at the idea of truckers using the Internet.
“Never happen. What would they use it for?” he snorted.
He found out in a hurry. Internet access has become a hot property at truckstops, especially since the advent of a wireless connectivity known as Wi-Fi.
Easier, cheaper and faster to install than Park ‘n’ View’s underground cables (remember them?) or dedicated land lines, Wi-Fi delivers high-speed Internet access to your cab or anywhere in a truckstop — no more hunting for a phone jack. But Wi-Fi has one potential drawback for the unwary — security.
With wireless, you are transmitting and receiving data through the air via radio signals. Anyone in range with readily available equipment may be able to detect and intercept those signals. Often, a wireless-equipped computer running Windows is all they need.
If you haven’t properly safeguarded your laptop, notebook or handheld against “sniffing,” as this form of eavesdropping is called, they may be able to snatch usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, PINs and other sensitive information. They could browse through your files and copy, alter or delete them.
That’s true with a home or office wireless system and also on the road. Estimates vary on how vulnerable wireless systems are. There are numerous Web sites that list unprotected “hot spots” — locations where wireless Internet service is available, both business and residential. It’s become a cybersport called “war driving” to ferret out unprotected hot spots.
To bring attention to the lack of security, a group of wireless security professionals and hobbyists have created an ongoing survey called “The Worldwide War Drive.” Participants drive around cities looking for active hot spots, and check how well they are defended, if at all. The goal is to bring attention to the need for greater vigilance by wireless users.
The results of WWWD3, held June 28 to July 5, 2003, were sobering: Of 88,122 hot spots located, only 32 percent used encrypted transmissions, while almost 68 percent did not. About 28 percent of the sites also used widely known default network name settings (known as SSIDs), while about 25 percent had no encryption or unique SSID. Translation: Lots of vulnerable systems out there.
Allan Ewart is an owner-operator leased to Transit Trailer, and he’s also an old hand with computers. He “sees” a lot of vulnerable computers whenever he lays over in a Flying J or other Wi-Fi friendly truckstop. (See accompanying story.)
“When your system sees a network access point, it will try to associate with it,” Ewart says. “In other words it’ll try to join the network. As soon as it joins, it gets a list of all the other machines that are part of the network, including yours.
“To see them in Windows XP, click on ‘my network places,’ ‘entire network,’ ‘Microsoft network.’ It will show a number of ‘workgroups.’ Click on any of these workgroups to see the individual computer names associated with them. Most XP machines come with a built-in firewall and will give no info to a casual looker,” he says.
Older operating systems such as Windows 98 have no built-in protection. If a firewall is not installed and properly configured by the user, the entire “C” drive is exposed.
“A casual browser is able to download and change anything on your hard drive. Scary thought,” he says.
“All Windows operating systems have some form of network browser built in, and while the procedure varies, the results are the same. There are lots of unprotected machines. On a typical evening at a Flying J, I can see four or five different workgroups with several machines in each. It is a sure bet that at least one or two of them are unprotected by a firewall and leave their entire system exposed,” Ewart says.
Security consists of layers of protection. The more layers, and the more difficult they are to penetrate, the greater the protection against all but the most determined attacks. No system is 100 percent secure against a truly determined onslaught.
Also, current wireless technology has inherent weaknesses the industry is racing to shore up or eliminate in the next generation.
The following recommendations will help you protect yourself while using Wi-Fi at home or in a small office system, and also on the road. Do these as part of setting up your wireless system. Or, if you’re already using wireless, check your manual for the procedure. For a home or office wireless system: