Re: Interesting stuff from Nokia on the Beeb's website...

From: "Andy Laurence" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [consumebristol] Interesting stuff from Nokia on the Beeb's
website...


> > It might be an idea to add a note to the bristol consume website
> > offering free help in securing wireless networks. I mean, it's not
> > exactly rocket science is it :)
>
> That's a great way to raise public awareness, and to get more people
> onboard - talk Consume when you're configuring it!

What I had in mind was preparing a quick powerpoint presentation
covering the weaknesses of MAC authentication, and how WEP
is cracked ie, run snort, gather a gig of data, you've got the key,
sniff the packets and you've got the mac addresses, then you're
on the network. Root boxes, leech the shares, DoS using their
bandwidth, driveby spam, etc, etc.
Then a little about how you should site your wireless access outside
the firewall to stop this happening. Short mention of how to do
secure connections through firewall.

That should cover the basics fairly quickly, and any sysadmin with
a clue should already know this.

If anyone needs further help, then I could walk around outside
their building with their sysadmin demonstrating how much range
my bogbrush cantenna gets.

It doesn't really need any more than that to get people to wake up
and start securing their networks properly. Given that it's equivalent
to a couple of hours of consultancy work, I think it would be entirely
appropriate to suggest that once they have secured their network
they might like to run a consume node. The point being that if there
is a free legal network then people don't need to use corporate
ones.

> > On an unrelated note, WirelessFreedom.org appears to be free,
> > if we're going to set up as a charity it might be a smart move to
> > not associate ourselves with consume if we're considering a
> > chargeable network.
>
> Yes, you may be right there.  The members of the Consume.net mailing lists
> are very disapproving of any money changing hands under the "Consume"
> banner.  The only problem is the publicity we already have, and continue
to
> get from it.

Personally, I think we should use the consume banner to take full
advantage of publicity etc. Then when we have a PROVEN track
record of creating a wireless network we should start up the
Big Idea[tm]. At the moment, we've got one node, we can't really
call that a network :)

On the subject of proving capability, I think we should demonstrate
a number of things, for instance, wireless across the clifton gorge.
It's the sort of thing that gets good pictures, we can talk about not
despoiling the countryside with cables, etc. While it's not a technical
feat of much merit, it is tied to local bristol, and shows some of the
potential.

Cheers,

Doug.


Bristol Consume Website: http://consume.andylaurence.co.uk/
Bristol Consume Discussion: http://consume.cyberprog.net/
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