Internet Oasis

Hi,

A few fellow students have noticed a wireless connection on their laptops
that say Internet Oasis (FREE). Anyone had any experience with them? Most
like since it is an ad-hoc connection it is a scam.

Ad hoc that YOU did not set up with your friends spells DANGER. Stay
clear of it.

On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:07:01 -0700, XPerienced65
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>A few fellow students have noticed a wireless connection on their laptops
>that say Internet Oasis (FREE). Anyone had any experience with them? Most
>like since it is an ad-hoc connection it is a scam.
--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com

XPerienced65 wrote:
> A few fellow students have noticed a wireless connection on their
> laptops that say Internet Oasis (FREE). Anyone had any experience
> with them? Most like since it is an ad-hoc connection it is a scam.

I found a reference to them being one of the "top ten active ad-hoc
viral infections."

<http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS230404+09-Apr-2008+MW20080409>

"AirTight Finds Good News and Bad News for
Wireless Security Best Practices at RSA 2008"

In part:
___________________
"RSA is one of the largest gatherings of security professionals in the
worlds o it is surprising to still find these professionals are not
following best practices for wireless connectivity," said David King,
chairman and CEO of AirTight. "It appears more than one or two
out of ten attendees is infected by viral Wi-Fi SSID, which is alarming."

AirTight also noted that the conference has an official WiFi site called
"rsa2008peap" but researchers spotted another unofficial site called
"FREE-RSA-WIFI," which is a potential Honeypot that could be luring
attendees to it.

AirTight security researchers found attendees:
-- Are infected with viral SSIDs (10% to 15%) and spreading them to
others.
-- Are using APs with out-of-the-box default configuration at either home
or work.
-- Are not cleaning up profiles after using hotspot Wi-Fi networks.
-- Are unknowingly leaking their identity.

The top ten active ad-hoc viral infections observed at RSA on the
first day of the event were:
-- Free Public WiFi
-- Hpsetup
-- Guest Internet Access
-- Free Internet Access
-- fwf60b-public
-- Hotel WIFI
-- Internet Oasis (FREE)
-- US Airways Free WiFi
-- Wireless Network
-- BelleAire
______________________

More on Viral SSIDs:
<http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=602>

--Mike Blake