Educational CyberPlayGround ®

WIFI HotSpot Finder

SECURITY HOW TO PROTECT YOUR WIFI LAN CONNECTION

DID YOU KNOW: WiFi Signals Can ID Individuals by Body Shape

With the Internet of Things slated to have tens of billions of connected devices by 2020, one of the most crucial design considerations for internet-connected products is figuring out how to seamlessly integrate these devices into everyday life. In this respect, teaching machines how to identify the individuals they are interacting with is paramount—it will allow for the total personalization of everything that is promised by the IoT. Rather than just having internet-connected light bulbs and refrigerators that are sitting around waiting to get hacked, these devices will be able to recognize you and interface with you according to your preferences (something that devices like the Xbox One are already doing via facial recognition).

FIND A
WIFI
HOT SPOT

2014 Still using the obsolete Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol. WEP is just broken, bad, has been known-bad for such a long time, and there really isn't a context in which it should be used now. According to Dimension Data's annual Network Barometer Report 2014 released today, the proportion of ageing and obsolete devices in corporate networks is at its highest in six years.

SET UP A VPN option for your laptop and phone if it doesn't use a trusted third-party service. For Windows PCs and Android phones, HotSpot Shield is a good option. (It offers a free option, and a higher tier for $12 a month.) For iPhone and Mac users, I recommend Cloak. (It starts at $3 a month.) You can configure both to automatically connect as soon as you join any network.

Delete saved public networks:Unless it's a Passpoint network, don't allow your device to remember or auto-join public networks. This can make it easy for an attacker to trick your device into connecting to their malicious network pretending to be the real one.

Get your digital hygiene in order: The best way to protect your most important accounts is to make sure you use a strong—and different—password on each of them.

Set up a secure password manager: enable two-factor authentication on all your bank, email, shopping and social media accounts. If someone steals your password, they won't be able to use just that to get into your online accounts—they'll also need the text-messaged code.

 

Wifi Hot Spot List

WiFi Finder for iPhone v2

From Droid.Apps: You can enable the Portable Wifi HotSpot

How to Secure Your Android's Wi-Fi

JiWire WiFi Hotspot Finder for Mac free Download

2012 Why We Have An Open Wireless Movement
EFF believes open networks are crucial in hurricane-affected areas
By ADI KAMDAR
In troubled times, it's important to help each other out. Right now, we're witnessing an unprecedented hurricane hitting the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and the ensuing damage and power outages are crippling rescue efforts, businesses large and small, and personal communications.
Communication is critical in time of crisis, and the Internet allows for the most effective way of getting information in and out. With readily available networks, government officials could use tools like Twitter to quickly spread information, citizen reports could help focus assistance where it is needed most, and social media updates could help reassure friends and loved ones—keeping mobile phone lines open for emergencies.
To take advantage of the Internet, people should not have to attempt to skirt restrictive Terms of Service to attempt to tether their smartphones. And tethering would not be necessary if there were ubiquitous open wireless, so that anyone with a connection and power can share their network with the neigborhood.
Last year, we wrote a post titled "Why We Need An Open Wireless Movement." Today, EFF is proud to announce the launch of the Open Wireless Movement—located at openwireless.org—a coalition effort put forth in conjunction with nine other organizations: Fight for the Future, Free Press, Internet Archive, NYCwireless, the Open Garden Foundation, OpenITP, the Open Spectrum Alliance, the Open Technology Institute, and the Personal Telco Project.
Aimed at residences, businesses, Internet service providers (ISPs), and developers, the Open Wireless Movement helps foster a world where the dozens of wireless networks that criss-cross any urban area are now open for us and our devices to use.
Imagine a future with ubiquitous open Internet
The Open Wireless Movement envisions a world where people readily have access to open wireless Internet connections—a world where sharing one's network in a way that ensures security yet preserves quality is the norm. Much of this vision is attainable now. In fact, many people have routers that already feature "guest networking" capabilities. To make this even easier, we are working with a coalition of volunteer engineers to build technologies that would make it simple for Internet subscribers to portion off their wireless networks for guests and the public while maintaining security, protecting privacy, and preserving quality of access. And we're working with advocates to help change the way people and businesses think about Internet service.

 


 

 

SURFnet
PO box 19035
3501 DA Utrecht
Telephone: +31 302 305 305
E-mail: admin@surfnet.nl

Provides Eduroam which allows students and staff to gain wireless access to a network of an institution (connected to SURFnet) where they are a guest by using their own institutional account.
eduroam-US -- US Eduroam Access
Networks from R&E institutions negotiate once during the federation process and for all members of participating institutions. The eduroam network addresses CALEA requirements for visitors from other schools. A non-AARNet branded version of what is eduroam that is available for participating National Education and Research Networks and academic institutions that are part of the eduroam community to use or link to.
As a user: If you can join eduroam at your home institution then you can join the eduroam wireless network everywhere you see it, in exactly the same way. If you have difficulty joining, many schools have support sites for users; check there for more information on getting online with eduroam.

 

BROADBAND

WIFI SPECTRUM

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced on March 27, 2012 that is taking steps to clear the 1755-1850 Mhz band for commercial purposes. It is an enormous undertaking and will take years to complete. In the meantime, and afterwards, the fear of spectrum "shortages" persists. Few in Washington are willing to ask the tough question: Why is there a "shortage" of spectrum? The answer is not the finiteness of spectrum as no one focuses on a "land shortage" or a "copper shortage."
Ask any student of introductory economics--at least those who stayed awake through part of the classes--about shortages, and they will know the answer. In a well-functioning market, shortages simply do not exist. At a market-clearing price, demand just equals supply. If there were a "shortage," i.e. less supply than demand, prices would be bid up to the point where the market would clear. Prices of spectrum are highly volatile, moving in dramatic short cycles, but on an upward trend. Prices are up, yet spectrum is still widely described as having a "shortage." Why? Should prices increase further?
The only reason we can have "shortages" in a market is because the market is not functioning well. Perhaps the most common reason for "shortages" is the government prevents markets from responding to price signals. Sadly, that is precisely the situation with spectrum: the government is standing in the way of the market.

 

OpenRadio changes what it means to be an ISP
The havoc that OpenFlow is wreaking in the data center along with its promises for home broadband networks may change the way we think of Internet service providers and in the process solve the spectrum crisis. OpenRadio is a project from Stanford that hopes to use OpenFlow to create pools of available broadband from Wi-Fi, cellular and other networks. The project team is working with Texas Instruments to build $300-$500 base stations for the hardware component, while researchers try to build the orchestration software.
Sachin Katti of Stanford presented the OpenRadio idea at the Open Networking Summit held in Santa Clara, Calif. this week, and laid out a clear rationale for using a software-defined network to aggregate all the available wireless technologies together to deliver services. By layering the orchestration software on top of the networks, operators can easily write programs that can help them optimize their networks. For example, an operator could limit Netflix or YouTube traffic to only 40 percent of the LTE airwaves and save the remainder for other data traffic and voice.

Accommodating M2M applications in underutilised spectrum in bands assigned for other primary uses appears to be an ideal way to meet their growing demand. Wi-Fi currently operates in licence-exempt spectrum (at 2.4GHz or 5GHz), but with the 2.4GHz band becoming increasingly congested, there is commercial interest in extending into other bands. In particular, bands below 1GHz are attractive, because of their greater range and indoor penetration (into buildings).


"Google is arguing that it did nothing wrong in sucking up sensitive information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Google says that anyone using such a network is essentially broadcasting their online activity on a radio channel, and that tuning in shouldn't be illegal."

Wi-Spy Google Engineer Outed As 'Hacker' 'God' Marius Milner
When the Wi-Spy mess was originally revealed in 2010, Google said it was an accident, due to code mistakenly created by a rogue engineer. But subsequent federal investigations into the incident revealed that Milner clearly stated his attentions in design documents (that his supervisors claim they didn't read). He hoped the snapshots of where people were and what they were doing might be useful for other Google projects. Milner, now an employee at YouTube, is thought of as a “god” among engineers for creating NetStumbler, a tool for detecting wireless access points. On a LinkedIn page that has since been taken down, he described himself as a “hacker” who knows “more than I want to about Wi-Fi,” reports the IBTimes. Meanwhile, Geekwire reports that Milner is listed as an inventor on a Google patent filed in 2007 for technology to protect against “hackers and other ne'er-do-wells [who] may seek to tap into communications on a network.” *Irony alert*

Wireless Everywhere: Military tech company develops spray-on wifi and antenna booster

US company offers Wi-Fi-proof paint An American company says it has successfully tested wireless-blocking paint. EM-SEC Technologies, in a release last week, said its "Coating Solution", applied to a test facility, had successfully protected "wireless devices and other electronic equipment". According to the company, "a one-time application of the coating creates an 'electromagnetic fortress' by preventing airborne hackers from intercepting signals". EM-SEC reckon this would be useful for corporate offices, boardrooms, server and computer rooms, and R&D labs. It seems that wireless nets can be operated without trouble inside a painted building or room.