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Beware of scary WiFi Virus
http://robertsiciliano.com/
It’s called Chameleon—a computer virus—but maybe it should be called FrankenVirus. You wouldn’t believe what it can do: literally move through the air, as in airborne—like a biological pathogen.
And like some Franken-creation, it came from a laboratory, cultivated at the University of Liverpool’s School of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Electronics.
Chameleon leaps from one WiFi access point to another. And the more access points that are concentrated in a given area (think of them almost like receptor sites), the more this virus gets to hop around and spread infection.
The scientists behind this creation have discovered that the more dense a population, the more relevant is the connectivity between devices, as opposed to how easy it was for the virus to get into access points.
Access points are inherently vulnerable, and Chameleon had no problem locating weak visible access points from wherever it was at, and it also avoided detection.
“When Chameleon attacked an AP it didn’t affect how it worked, but was able to collect and report the credentials of all other WiFi users who connected to it,” explains Professor Alan Marshall in an article on Forbes.com. He added that this malware pursued other WiFi APs to connect to and infiltrate.
The scientists made this virus subsist only on the network—a realm where anti-virus and anti-malware systems typically do not scavenge for invaders. Protective software seeks out viruses on your device or online. Thus, Chameleon earns its name.
Think of this virus like the burglar who goes from house to house overnight, jiggling doorknobs to see which one is unlocked. WiFi connections are like unlocked doors, or locked doors with rudimentary locks.
Chameleon’s creators have come up with a virus that can attack WiFi networks and spread its evil fast. The researchers now want to come up with a way to tell when a network is at imminent risk.
Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to TheBestCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247. Disclosures.
Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen.
Source: http://robertsiciliano.com/blog/2015/01/14/beware-of-scary-wifi-virus/
If you hide your SSID (stop broadcasting), you stop this (and 10,000 other) threats. If you reboot your router, as it most-likely has no RAM, you reset this problem to go away. Routers are not that standardized, even within a single brand, so the chances of this actually working in the real world are very slim (a Linksys router will not be vulnerable to a Netgear router’s same weaknesses).
This is out there. Might be, but unless you are sitting in the middle of Times Square, I don’t see this as being a mass-pandemic threat. If you are not in an ‘ovearching’ WiFi environment, I don’t see this going far, either. Lastly, just because you got into my router, does NOT mean you got into my network. Two COMPLETELY different things on a well-built network. As soon as I see network activity to the internet, and no one is working a client, I am going to shut the router down and hit ‘reset’, then reload the config for it to how I had it before. Virus obliterated.
Again, a weak tool to harass and scare laypersons into $49 software, probably sold by this company.
…dusty…You’re way more hip to this stuff than I am….so, let me relate what happened to me last week….my wifi went away, and another took its place….the id’s are different….the new one was the only hook up that worked…..I have no “sensitive” info on my unit, so I’m really not worried about security, but it was wierd and made me sorta concerned…..though I know not why.
….Here’s the kicker….my original wifi id was ‘netgear’….the ID of the new one is “darkness waits”…what do you make of that?