This hoax lives on forever
by Volker Weber
Photo: vowe
Comments
I must confess: i was a spreader too ... caught mine in a terminal building of KLAX, desperatly seeking for a WiFi access. A typical airport phenomena ....
I don't get it...?!
Don't get it too :-(
@Sven - I wrote it up once but that article is no longer on-line. It is a feature of Windows XP prior to SP3. A WinXP computer joining an ad-hoc WLAN will always subsequently broadcast the SSID of that WLAN without user intervention. This feature was designed to make it easy to maintain an ad-hoc network between two WinXP machines controlled by the same user (say, to move files to a new machine) because the network will always be re-established regardless of in which order the peers boot.
However, it has an obvious viral quality. If someone deliberately advertises an ad-hoc network with an enticing name (Free Public Wi-Fi), then lots of people will feel compelled to attempt connection when they see it. Any WinXP (<SP3) machine used to connect to it will subsequently broadcast it for others to discover and so it spreads exponentially. This is why it is so prevalent. And it could doubtless be used as an attack vector too - if a machine is advertising Free Public Wi-Fi there's a good chance it has not been fully patched.
This is also why it will not live on forever - only until nobody is using WinXP <SP3 any more.
OK OK - for all practical purposes that probably is forever.
Aha. Thanks.
finding a "tmobile" network of the same kind from time to time, which is showing somebody's sense of humor.
