wireless hotel - computer to computer
Jan 24, 2007, 3:18 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 352
wireless hotel - computer to computer
Last few times I have been in a hotel checked to see if there were any wireless options and have found some computer to computer ones that have names like freetoguest, freeinternet, etc. I have tried them with no luck but wondered if that was a safe thing to do. Anyone know what these are and are there any suggestions?
Jan 24, 2007, 3:35 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: SDF
Programs: DL DM (1.1MM), MR TEL, HH DL, Avis P+ National Ex+, blah blah blah
Posts: 1,033
man-in-the-middle scams
You gotta watch out for stuff like this. If you are connecting to another computer, it could be (and most likely, is) running logging software to capture everything you send/receive. You even need to be careful about which WAPs you connect to in a hotel as they could be fake too.
I know I sound a bit paranoid, but I am in the security biz and no one is more responsible for your PC security/integrity than you. Connect to one of these spoofed access points and you're givin' it all away.
I know I sound a bit paranoid, but I am in the security biz and no one is more responsible for your PC security/integrity than you. Connect to one of these spoofed access points and you're givin' it all away.
Jan 24, 2007, 3:40 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, California, USA
Posts: 36,062
Sounds like someone trying to sucker you into opening your internet connection to me. Though it's technically possible -- even easy -- to use a wireless computer as an internet gateway, I can't imagine any reason a hotel would do that instead of using a wireless router. I wouldn't try them.
Jan 24, 2007, 3:44 pm
#4
In Memoriam
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Easton, CT, USA
Programs: ua prem exec, Former hilton diamond
Posts: 31,801
Lots of times Windows will braodcast the name of the last computer you connected to if it can't find anything, it's a known thing it does.
So while you may see those names, it could be that it's just their machines broadcasting and you couldn't connect anyways.
There's one person here you can always tell is in the office and which hotel he last stayed at for that reason.
From one story:
Laptops powered by Windows XP or Windows 2000 with built-in wireless capabilities (these includes most laptops on the market today) are configured so that when the user opens up the machine or turns it on, Windows looks for any available wireless connections. If the laptop cannot link up to a wireless network, it creates what's known as an ad-hoc "link local address," a supposed "private network" that assigns the wireless card a network address of 169.254.x.x (the Xs represent a random number between 1 and 254). Microsoft designed this portion of Windows so that the address becomes associated with the name or "SSID" of the last wireless network from which the user obtained a real Internet address. The laptop then broadcasts the name of that network out to other computers within a short range of the machine (which may vary depending a number of things, including the quality of the laptop's embedded network card and things that may obstruct the signal, like walls, e.g.).
If your firewall is enabled, nobody should be able to connect, no matter what you broadcast.
So while you may see those names, it could be that it's just their machines broadcasting and you couldn't connect anyways.
There's one person here you can always tell is in the office and which hotel he last stayed at for that reason.
From one story:
Laptops powered by Windows XP or Windows 2000 with built-in wireless capabilities (these includes most laptops on the market today) are configured so that when the user opens up the machine or turns it on, Windows looks for any available wireless connections. If the laptop cannot link up to a wireless network, it creates what's known as an ad-hoc "link local address," a supposed "private network" that assigns the wireless card a network address of 169.254.x.x (the Xs represent a random number between 1 and 254). Microsoft designed this portion of Windows so that the address becomes associated with the name or "SSID" of the last wireless network from which the user obtained a real Internet address. The laptop then broadcasts the name of that network out to other computers within a short range of the machine (which may vary depending a number of things, including the quality of the laptop's embedded network card and things that may obstruct the signal, like walls, e.g.).
If your firewall is enabled, nobody should be able to connect, no matter what you broadcast.