Wireless Internet access points in shopping malls are popular spots where stylish men and fashionable women browse the web on expensive laptops and PDAs. They are affluent individuals and are prime targets for remote thieves who specialize in stealing sensitive personal information.
This type of crime is referred to as “evil twin” because these criminals can lure users into seemingly safe areas that are actually imitating legitimate websites with identical names.
“Even if you access a safe and legitimate site, hackers can still attack using freely available software that is widely distributed online,” said Ryan Purita, a security expert at Totally Connected Security.
“Your ID or password for a site like MySpace doesn’t mean much,” said Richard Rushing, Chief Technology Officer of security firm AirDefense. “Instead, they will steal banking account passwords from the computers of those who appear affluent.”
Rushing noted that this type of crime has recently been prevalent in first-class lounges at international airports, in garages with expensive cars, and equipped with Wi-Fi. Train station corridors are also among their targets.
Currently, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can be used to mitigate the risk of information theft when accessing Wi-Fi. You can refer to additional articles on Network Administration to learn more about wireless network security.
