So you go to a political tradition. Do a little politicking and listen to some speeches. While taking a break from the handshaking and schmoozing you choose to do a little work on your laptop. Then you get hacked.
During the Conservative National Convention, IT security company Avast security established up fake Wi-Fi hotspots to see who would fall for their trick. As it works out, a lot of men and women fell for it. Avast estimated more than 1, 200 people logged into the fake hotspots, some with politically inclined names like "I ELECTION TRUMP! FREE INTERNET, " and "I VOTE HILLARY! FREE INTERNET, " and some with an official engagement ring with them like "Google Starbucks" and ATTWifi at GOP. "
Of those, sixty-eight. 3 percent exposed their identities.
This may not a new trick for actual hackers, but a popular one in travel friendly spots, or big events. The Democratic National Convention and Olympics are expected to be breeding grounds for fraud.
"There are so many free applications and hardware devices available that almost anyone can do it, " said Jerry Irvine, member of the Oughout. S. Chamber of Commerce's Cybersecurity Leadership Council and CIO of Prescient Solutions.
We're suckers
The relieve of developing a fake killer spot is one reason hacker keep doing it. "There are freely available tools that allow someone to easily turn their laptop into a Wi-Fi killer spot, " said says Whilst gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist for Intel Security.
Another is that we keep falling for it. "There are so many free public Wi-Fi locations that users have become too comfortable joining them, " says Irvine.
wi fi blocking wifi
It's become such a part of our daily lives--especially if we travel and are always looking for free Wi-Fi--that we don't always question that any community, especially one with a name related to a specific event, is there for just about any other reason than to make our lives more convenient. Time is a factor, too--and that we do not think we have enough of it to check on, particularly if we're trying to login before going on to a zillion other things. "We are always in a rush and often don't take the time to consider if a Wi-Fi is malicious or fake. All of us tend to click the top free link, " claims Davis.
