Another Wireless Access Point Warning (video link)

I work with computer systems as my 9 to 5 job and have always had an interest in computer security. During my studying of current computer security methods I've attended quite a few conventions and one group that has really come to the forefront over the past few years is Offensive Security. This group is responsible for the creation of the fantastic Backtrack linux distrobution that includes an incredible amount of security tools as well as two certification programs dealing with network security. During my browsing of the site awhile back I came across a video that, when shown to my friends, made everybody's jaw drop so I figured it would be perfect to share with you all.

I won't get into the technical aspects of it, but it has to do with the capturing of packets of information that are wirelessly sent everytime you access a page on the internet through a WiFi connection. Most are pretty meaningless, but some, well, just watch the video and see what can happen (especially between 0:24 and 1:40). Sorry, I couldn't embed the video so I've included a hyperlink.

***Note: If the video doesn't play properly it is because of a bug in the new version of Flash Player. You can downgrade your version of Flash here if interested***

Watch the video here.

This isn't to scare you away from ever connecting wirelessly, I do more often than not, it's just to make you more aware of the potential dangers out there and how quickly someone with malicious intent can take action with information collected.

If you're interested in taking one of their courses for certification (which are excellent by the way) you can see what Offensive Security offers and sign up if you choose here:

http://www.offensive-security.com/training.php

Also, if you're interested in Backtrack and want to play with it to see what it offers, there is a beta version of Backtrack 3 that can be downloaded here:

http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html

It's available for free, which all of us here love, so it's definitely not something to pass over if you'd like to learn more about it.