Insecure wireless networks open doors for criminals

TAMPA — Frustrated by months of Internet problems, Ellen Gaynor said she was so relieved to get her home wireless service working again that she didn’t secure it.

That — and a small white stripe painted in the street outside Gaynor’s house — was all the opening someone needed to use her Internet service on the sly, Gaynor said Tuesday.

Tampa police last month arrested Stephen Mann of New Port Richey, who was using a laptop computer in a Toyota outside Gaynor’s home on Ancroft Court in Tampa Palms.

The arrest highlights the need to secure wireless computer networks from people who wish to disguise their online activities, said Paul Henry, a computer forensics specialist in Ocala who often works with law enforcement.

Someone could use your wireless connection to pry into financial records, “surf pornography or, worse, child pornography,” Henry said Tuesday. “If the FBI is investigating child pornography, guess whose door they’re going to knock on?”

Police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said Mann was using Gaynor’s wireless access for online gaming. Detectives are investigating his online activities.

Police charged Mann, 25, with committing an offense against computer users. The third-degree felony applies to anyone who accesses a computer, computer system or network without authorization; it is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Mann is free on $2,000 bail. Attempts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Gaynor said police told her the white stripe painted in the street was a tipoff to others seeking free wireless access, “just so they could see where to park.”

Stripes and similar markings are common reference points for users who want secret, unsecured access to the Internet, Henry said.

“There are sites you can go to that literally provide you with maps where you can get on the Internet,” he said.

People provide information to these sites by “war driving” — driving through neighborhoods with software that collects GPS data and the service set identifier, or SSID, the name assigned to a wireless network, he said.

Wireless access at coffee shops and bookstores is not always free or high-speed enough for gamers and too public for people doing something illegal, he said. Plus, “there’s always an added thrill to steal it,” he said of the Internet use.

Gaynor found out about the access to her house after noticing a black Toyota parked around the corner for several days. She didn’t recognize the driver, so when she saw a Tampa police officer parked at Compton Park on Oct. 24, she walked over and told the officer about it.

Davis said the officer drove up to the Toyota, and Mann hastily shut off his laptop and put it on the passenger seat. Police say he later admitted to intercepting the signal from Gaynor’s house.

Henry said people running a wireless network should use encryption technology, such as WPA. At the least, users should shield their SSID from display and type it in every time they go online.

“Unfortunately, many people put convenience above security,” he said.

Gaynor said after Mann’s arrest, she secured the wireless router through the manufacturer. She and her husband haven’t found any issues in their financial records but changed their passwords as a precaution.

“We were secure in minutes,” she said. “I want to just kick myself because it was not a complicated thing to do.”

The stripe in the street is also gone, thanks to black spray paint, she said.