What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network • Hacker News Board

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#11

Post by victorvation » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:02 PM UTC

tcdent wrote: post #7

How is he able to get them to trust the network? Is it common for software to connect to known SSIDs without verifying any other information?

Most devices will connect if the SSID and the security protocol is the same. If they set up a network with the same SSID and security protocol, using the same password (that they asked the waitress for!), then devices will automatically connect to it.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#12

Post by HorizonXP » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:04 PM UTC

xamolxix wrote: post #10

Considering how ridiculously cheap an anonymous VPN service is these days I am surprised how many people do not use them.

Because it's difficult to setup and configure for most people?

People struggle with connecting their laptops/tablets to WiFi. Expecting them to configure a VPN on their own is a stretch.

You could start a small SaaS business that could make "lifestyle business" type money if you did this well.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#13

Post by xamolxix » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:05 PM UTC

sktrdie wrote: post #6

How was the hacker able to get Facebook credentials? Facebook uses HTTPS and so does Live.com. Even if I'm connected to a malicious router, only me and Facebook know about the data we're sending each other. Am I missing something or should the author of this article provide more evidence on the type of attack?

I suspect it's not plain old sniffing. He might give fake DNS records to point to his own phishing site (facebook clone). It's trivial to re-post the credentials to the real facebook check the password and then actually log them in. curl can be used to do this, as I am sure many others.

Edit: SSL does not have to be used on the clone. Most people will not notice/care.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#14

Post by gamed » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:08 PM UTC

fredsted wrote: post #4

Are my devices really broadcasting the SSIDs they have been connecting to?

Yes. They are called probe requests, and can be easily intercepted and viewed. Multiple programs exist to grab these requests off the air and stand up wireless networks with that SSID.[1]

[1]http://digi.ninja/jasager/

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#15

Post by victorvation » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:09 PM UTC

fredsted wrote: post #4

Are my devices really broadcasting the SSIDs they have been connecting to?

Yep. Whenever wifi is enabled, your device is sending out probe request frames, which includes your list of preferred networks/networks you've connected to before.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#16

Post by colinbartlett » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:09 PM UTC

HorizonXP wrote: post #12

xamolxix wrote: post #10

Considering how ridiculously cheap an anonymous VPN service is these days I am surprised how many people do not use them.

Because it's difficult to setup and configure for most people? People struggle with connecting their laptops/tablets to WiFi. Expecting them to configure a VPN on their own is a stretch. You could start a small SaaS business that could make "lifestyle business" type money if you did this well.

PrivateInternetAccess.com gives you an installer with all the credentials in it ready to go. It was so easy my dad could do it.

I don't think ease is a barrier anymore. I think it's just lack of education about how necessary these measures are.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#17

Post by tcdent » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:09 PM UTC

zokier wrote: post #9

tcdent wrote: post #7

How is he able to get them to trust the network? Is it common for software to connect to known SSIDs without verifying any other information?

What "other information" is there to verify?

Hardware ID/MAC address, for example.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#18

Post by xamolxix » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:09 PM UTC

HorizonXP wrote: post #12

xamolxix wrote: post #10

Considering how ridiculously cheap an anonymous VPN service is these days I am surprised how many people do not use them.

Because it's difficult to setup and configure for most people? People struggle with connecting their laptops/tablets to WiFi. Expecting them to configure a VPN on their own is a stretch. You could start a small SaaS business that could make "lifestyle business" type money if you did this well.

Private internet access (dot com) provide a point and click interface for windows and mac os x. On linux one has to manually config but it's not that hard. I have had non-technical people use it with no issues. I am sure there are others out there.

I am not associated with them in any way.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#19

Post by lucb1e » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:11 PM UTC

xamolxix wrote: post #13

sktrdie wrote: post #6

How was the hacker able to get Facebook credentials? Facebook uses HTTPS and so does Live.com. Even if I'm connected to a malicious router, only me and Facebook know about the data we're sending each other. Am I missing something or should the author of this article provide more evidence on the type of attack?

I suspect it's not plain old sniffing. He might give fake DNS records to point to his own phishing site (facebook clone). It's trivial to re-post the credentials to the real facebook check the password and then actually log them in. curl can be used to do this, as I am sure many others. Edit: SSL does not have to be used on the clone. Most people will not notice/care.

You can't spoof a certificate with DNS. Even if you spoofed a DNS response and made facebook.com point to 192.168.1.2 then the server at 192.168.1.2 (which could be yours) would still need a valid certificate for facebook.com.

The only way to have done this is by having the user click "continue" or "ignore" or something on an ssl error page. I know from experience that a company full of programmers will happily do that. Only a few percent would go "wait a minute, this is Facebook. That certificate should be valid." Some people here might reply "no way", but HN generally contains the one percent.

Edit: This is almost correct. You can actually prevent being redirected from http to https when typing in "facebook.com" without https:// in front. My bad.

Still though, the attentive user would notice the missing padlock. I check it 3/4 times, and 4/4 times when using a public network. I also refrain from using http sites where I log in (some forums I visit do that). But again, probably less than one percent of the tech people do that.

Re: What we give away when we log on to a public Wi-Fi network

#20

Post by weaksauce » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:11 PM UTC

xamolxix wrote: post #13

sktrdie wrote: post #6

How was the hacker able to get Facebook credentials? Facebook uses HTTPS and so does Live.com. Even if I'm connected to a malicious router, only me and Facebook know about the data we're sending each other. Am I missing something or should the author of this article provide more evidence on the type of attack?

I suspect it's not plain old sniffing. He might give fake DNS records to point to his own phishing site (facebook clone). It's trivial to re-post the credentials to the real facebook check the password and then actually log them in. curl can be used to do this, as I am sure many others. Edit: SSL does not have to be used on the clone. Most people will not notice/care.

also, most people are not savvy enough to check the ssl credentials or to even see that they are not on a ssl enabled site. even if the phishing attack was slow, people have lower expectations for speed in a coffee shop.