THe Sci-Fi GRound-BReaking FutuRist: WiFi

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Saturday, July 20, 2013

WhAT's acTually WiFi technOlogY.........d ConCluSion

This Visual Description completely realizes the importance of WiFi in out daily life......

hAve A lOOk...........................

The World Health Organization (WHO) says "there is no risk from low level, long-term exposure to wi-fi networks" and the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency reports that exposure to Wi-Fi for a year results in the "same amount of radiation from a 20-minute mobile phone call."

A small percentage of Wi-Fi users have reported adverse health issues after repeat exposure and use of Wi-Fi,^[62] though there has been no publication of any effects being observable in double-blind studies. A review of studies involving 725 people that claimed electromagnetic hypersensitivity found no evidence for their claims.

One study claims, in preliminary results, that "laptops (Wi-Fi mode) on the lap near the testicles may result in decreased male fertility". Another small sample study (15 males and 15 females) found a decrease in the P300 event-related potential (ERP) for male but not female subjects while engaging in a working memory oriented linguistic task during Wi-Fi exposure.

NetwoRk SecuRity

The main issue with wireless network security is its simplified access to the network compared to traditional wired networks such as Ethernet, with wired networking one must either gain access to a building (physically connecting into the internal network) or break through an external firewall. To enable Wi-Fi, one merely needs to be within the wireless range of the Wi-Fi network. Most business networks protect sensitive data and systems by attempting to disallow external access. Enabling wireless connectivity reduces security if the network uses inadequate or no encryption.

An attacker who has gained access to a Wi-Fi network router can initiate a DNS spoofing attack against any other user of the network by forging a response before the queried DNS server has a chance to reply.

Securing Methods

A common measure to deter unauthorized users involves hiding the access point's name by disabling the SSID broadcast. While effective against the casual user, it is ineffective as a security method because the SSID is broadcast in the clear in response to a client SSID query. Another method is to only allow computers with known MAC addresses to join the network, but determined eavesdroppers may be able to join the network by spoofing an authorized address.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption was designed to protect against casual snooping but it is no longer considered secure. Tools such as AirSnort or Aircrack-ng can quickly recover WEP encryption keys.^[55] Because of WEP's weakness the Wi-Fi Alliance approved Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) which uses TKIP. WPA was specifically designed to work with older equipment usually through a firmware upgrade. Though more secure than WEP, WPA has known vulnerabilities.

The more secure WPA2 using Advanced Encryption Standard was introduced in 2004 and is supported by most new Wi-Fi devices. WPA2 is fully compatible with WPA.

A flaw in a feature added to Wi-Fi in 2007, called Wi-Fi Protected Setup, allows WPA and WPA2 security to be bypassed and effectively broken in many situations. The only remedy as of late 2011 is to turn off Wi-Fi Protected Setup, which is not always possible.

Piggybacking

Piggybacking refers to access to a wireless Internet connection by bringing one's own computer within the range of another's wireless connection, and using that service without the subscriber's explicit permission or knowledge.

During the early popular adoption of 802.11, providing open access points for anyone within range to use was encouraged to cultivate wireless community networks, particularly since people on average use only a fraction of their downstream bandwidth at any given time.

Recreational logging and mapping of other people's access points has become known as wardriving. Indeed, many access points are intentionally installed without security turned on so that they can be used as a free service. Providing access to one's Internet connection in this fashion may breach the Terms of Service or contract with the ISP. These activities do not result in sanctions in most jurisdictions; however, legislation and case law differ considerably across the world. A proposal to leave graffiti describing available services was called warchalking. A Florida court case determined that owner laziness was not to be a valid excuse.

Piggybacking often occurs unintentionally, since most access points are configured without encryption by default and operating systems can be configured to connect automatically to any available wireless network. A user who happens to start up a laptop in the vicinity of an access point may find the computer has joined the network without any visible indication. Moreover, a user intending to join one network may instead end up on another one if the latter has a stronger signal. In combination with automatic discovery of other network resources (see DHCP andZeroconf) this could possibly lead wireless users to send sensitive data to the wrong middle-man when seeking a destination. For example, a user could inadvertently use an unsecure network to log into a website, thereby making the login credentials available to anyone listening, if the website uses an unsecure protocol such as HTTP.

ToP 10 UseS Of WiFi

TheY ARen't juSt ConneCtinG 2 INterNet..

Having the ability to connect to the internet anywhere we go is undoubtedly awesome, but it isn't the only gift Wi-Fi technology has given us. Here are our 10 favorite uses for Wi-Fi that go beyond accessing the web.

1. Sync Your Music Library, Photo Library, or Other Files with Your Smartphone USB-Free

Top 10 Uses for Wi-Fi (That Aren't Just Connecting to the Internet)

Since the days of the original iPod, syncing your music (or other files) from your PC to your portable device required you to dock your device via USB. Wi-Fi syncing is all the rage these days, though: you can sync yourAndroid phone with iTunes, Winamp, or sync your iPhone with Linux and its photos with PhotoSync. Furthermore, Android users can access their phone's SD card with a myriad of apps, like WiFi File Explorer, Dazzboard, Android Manager WiFi, or the accurately named Awesome Drop

2. Tell Your Phone When Its Home (or Not)

We've shown you how to turn your Android phone into an automated superphone with Tasker, and one of the best triggers for a Tasker action is to start a service or launch an application whenever you return home. While GPS is a great way to notify your phone of its location, it's only accurate to a certain radius, and depending on where you live it might even be hard to get a fix on the satellites (plus it drains battery like nobody's business). Another way to tell your phone when you're home—as in, inside your house—is to create a Tasker profile that detects when you're connected to your home network. On the other side of the coin, you can always roll your own Find my iPhone clone for Android, using Wi-Fi to detect when it's somewhere other than where it should be.

3. Wirelessly Transfer Photos from Your Digital Camera

If you're sick of plugging your SD card into your PC's card reader to transfer photos (or if your computer doesn't have a card reader), the previously mentioned Eye-Fi wireless SD card is the perfect companion for your digital camera. You never even need to take it out of your camera—whenever it's connected to the same network as your computer (or iOS device), it will transfer photos right over for you. And, if you want, you can even have it automatically upload photos to sites like Flickr, Facebook, and Picasa.

4. Stream Audio to Any Speakers in the House

While you need extra PCs or game systems lying around to stream video, streaming audio is a cinch with something like Apple's AirPort Express router. Even if you're not streaming from iTunes, Apple's AirPort Express will get any music to any speakers you want in the house. You can even create your own portable, wireless boombox. Of course, if you're not an Apple fan, you can always use a regular old router to make a wireless music player, too. And, of course, it works the other way, too—you can always stream music from your iPod or iPhone to a computer with iTunes.

5. Share Files with Nearby Computers

If you're sharing something other than video between PCs, you have a bunch of options for transferring them. While it isn't the absolute fastest method, sharing files over the same Wi-Fi network (or an ad-hoc network if you're out and about) is certainly one of the easiest ways to get files from one computer to another. Of course, if the friend with which you're sharing files is a Dropbox enthusiast, you can transfer files over Wi-Fi with Dropbox as well.

6. Stream Movies to Any TV in the House

Instead of having a giant collection of DVDs or ripping your movies to every XBMC box you have in your house, you can build yourself an affordable home media serverand stream video over Wi-Fi to any other HTPC (or Xbox or Playstation)-enabled TV in the house. Whether you use Windows Media Center, XBMC, or something as simple as aGoogle Media Server Widget for Windows, the possibilities are nearly endless—you can use any number of operating systems, applications, and protocols to get your movies wirelessly from one computer to another.

7. Tether Your Smartphone to Your Computer for Internet Anywhere

Okay, so we kind of cheated on this one—it does involve connecting to the internet, but it's definitely not in the traditional way people use Wi-Fi (especially because you often need a hacked or rooted device to do it). Instead of searching around for regular Wi-Fi networks wherever you go, you can just use your phone as a wireless router and connect to your phone's internet service with your PC. Whether you have a rooted Android phone and the Wireless Tether app, a Jailbroken iPhone with PDAnet, or a manually hacked-to-tether Palm Pre, you'll never be without internet again—as long as you have cell phone signal, of course.

8. Forward Notifications from Your Smartphone to Your PC

If you're rocking an Android phone (andmost of you are), you can send call, SMS, and battery notifications straight to your Windows, Mac with Growl, or Linux PC over Wi-Fi with Android notifier. No more do you have to deal with the ringing and buzzing phone from across the room when you're already sitting at your PC. If you prefer to be able to take action on these items, you can always forego the Wi-Fi and send them over GTalk with TalkMyPhone instead.

9. Send Documents to Your Printer from Any Computer or Smartphone

There's no reason to have five different printers in your house just so you can print in any room. Instead of constantly plugging and unplugging the printer from your laptop, you can print wirelessly from any computer. Just share the printer from the computer it's connected to, turn it into its own standalone print server if it doesn't have a computer next to it, or even print files from your smartphone using Dropbox (on both Windows and Mac).

10. Turn Your Smartphone into a Remote Control

If all the computers in your house are connected to a Wi-Fi network, you can easily connect your smartphone to the same network and control them. With apps likeour favorite iTunes-controlling Remote app for iPhone, the all-encompassing Gmote for Android, and more XBMC remotes than you can shake a stick at, you don't have to get up from your couch for anything anymore.