Man charged with stealing Wi-Fi signal

8 Jul, 2005 at 6:59am ET Article published in Tech

Police have arrested a man for using someone else’s wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice.

Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony.

Innocuous use of other people’s unsecured Wi-Fi networks is common. But experts say that illegal use often goes undetected, such as people sneaking on others’ networks to traffic in child pornography, steal credit card information and send death threats.

Security experts say people can prevent such access by turning on encryption or requiring passwords, but few bother or even know how to do so.

Source: CNN

Comments

8 Jul 2005 ~ 7:14am topherice According to the article, this guy was booked and charged on a third degree felony, unauthorized access to a computer network. Wow. I hope he gets what's coming to him.
8 Jul 2005 ~ 9:36am QCH I've done this myself.... Twice.

One time I was sitting in my car waiting on my daughter to finish dance class. I was doing homework and realized I needed a file from my work PC. I turned on my wireless just to see what was out there and found a network wide open. I was curious and connected to the network called "LINKSYS". I double checked and the router had the default password too... I took a look at the network and saw a PC called "Server". The server was sharing a drive... the admin account had a blank password. So... what did I do... Left a text file on the desktop. It read that the owner needs to secure its wireless network and its server too.... I left my name and number in case he needed assistance. That's it...

The second case... I was fixing a customers PC and needed a NIC driver... so I used my laptop to connect to a unsecured network, downloaded the driver and fixed the customer's PC.

A felony? I really hope not....
8 Jul 2005 ~ 10:38am Garg A felony is a bit extreme if he was just using the network because it was convenient. If he was sending death threats or distributing child porn, those should be separate charges.
8 Jul 2005 ~ 12:43pm QCH I agree... charge him for the other things and maybe tack on the felony if the guy is a real sleeze... but just the felony?
8 Jul 2005 ~ 1:54pm Preacher With restaurants, cafes, and other consumer venues offering free wireless, I would argue using someone else's unsecured, unencrypted wireless signal for nothing malicious is a misdemeanor AT THE MOST.
8 Jul 2005 ~ 1:57pm kanezfan Yes, we need to be charging people with third degree felonies for using an unsecured wifi connection. That's much more important than soldiers dying in Iraq or the rash of child killers we've had lately. It's much more important than those "real" criminals who rape, kill, and sell drugs. Clearly our priorities are in the right places. Next I hope they pass a bill requiring mandatory castration for all those file sharing pirates!
8 Jul 2005 ~ 3:16pm QCH We should charge the guy that owns the unsecured wireless....
8 Jul 2005 ~ 3:43pm Garg

kanezfan wrote:

Next I hope they pass a bill requiring mandatory castration for all those file sharing pirates!

SM BYTE!
8 Jul 2005 ~ 4:02pm jradmin

QCH2002 wrote:

I've done this myself.... Twice.

One time I was sitting in my car waiting on my daughter to finish dance class. I was doing homework and realized I needed a file from my work PC. I turned on my wireless just to see what was out there and found a network wide open. I was curious and connected to the network called "LINKSYS". I double checked and the router had the default password too... I took a look at the network and saw a PC called "Server". The server was sharing a drive... the admin account had a blank password. So... what did I do... Left a text file on the desktop. It read that the owner needs to secure its wireless network and its server too.... I left my name and number in case he needed assistance. That's it...

The second case... I was fixing a customers PC and needed a NIC driver... so I used my laptop to connect to a unsecured network, downloaded the driver and fixed the customer's PC.

A felony? I really hope not....

Never ever ever ever do what you did in the first case again. Not unless you wanna see a jail cell from the inside. Just because someone is a technical moron doesnt mean your not gonna be in the sling if they open that test and say "OMG I've been hacked! Here police/FBI...here's a phone # the person left!". Next thing you know your bringing bubba flowers in prison Mitnick style, all cause you wanted to make someone safe.

If that had been a wireless router for a business, then you can get charged by the FBI for all grades of things including information theft and others.
8 Jul 2005 ~ 4:56pm QCH jradmin,

I'm willing to stick up for myself in court for what I think is right. People need to know that unsecured servers and wireless networks are unsafe and can cause very big problems. A server that is compromised can be setup to spam, deliver viruses, DOS attacks... I had no idea who the server belonged to so I could just knock on there door and let them know either.

Where I work (Federal Government), our Security Admins "hack" into unsecured systems onsite in order to show the owners that they are vulnerable. By leaving my name and number, I showed that I'm not afraid to get a phone call and justify my "hacking" into their system. I'd like see them secure the server and network. In the end, I went back several weeks later and the network was gone (or not broadcasting the SSID) so they either took it offline or secured it. Either way, my job is done.

Am I opening myself to possible scrutiny, probably. Thanks for the concern though.
8 Jul 2005 ~ 5:58pm NLichtman This is the dumbest news out there! mWho's the idiot who said, "Hey guys, this guy got arrested for using an unsecure wireless connection that was wide-open for use?"

This is the dumbest issue since the pet rock. What kind of crap is going down. The next thing that you know they are gonna' start making up stupid laws about computer access. Half of the people out there making these laws are probably too stupid to even figure out that this means "Power on/off".
8 Jul 2005 ~ 6:39pm primesuspect you guys are speculating purely on your own imaginations - this wouldn't be such a dumb story if the guy were using unsecured networks as jumping points to compromise other machines, or download kiddie porn, would it?

If you knew that this guy was wanking to child pornography while using an unsecured network, would that change your opinion of the story?

Shame on CNN (as usual) for reporting only sensational bits and throwing in unsubstantiated bits that fire up the imagination, and not making any serious effort to get to the actual news. But shame on anybody who thinks that a crime wasn't committed here. If I found some ******* stealing my internet that I pay for, I would want to prosecute him too.
8 Jul 2005 ~ 7:23pm Garg Not speculating - using conditional statements to cover different scenarios:

Gargoyle wrote:

A felony is a bit extreme if he was just using the network because it was convenient. If he was sending death threats or distributing child porn, those should be separate charges.

Sure, stealing someone's internet is a crime, but it should be a misdemenor resulting in a fine if it was just somebody's Linksys router in their livingroom. If someone steals a signifigant amount of bandwidth from a business that has a lot of (expensive) bandwidth to steal, the thief should be held liable for any harm that came to the business because of that (perhaps a failure of business task that depended on available bandwidth), and for the cost of that bandwidth. Plus punitive damages.

Again, if someone is using it to download kiddie porn, that doesn't make stealing the internet access a felony. It means they are guilty of a separate charge - possessing or distributing kiddie porn.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 2:39am TheSmJ

primesuspect wrote:

But shame on anybody who thinks that a crime wasn't committed here. If I found some ******* stealing my internet that I pay for, I would want to prosecute him too.

If he wasn't doing anything malicious, and you (or the "victim") wasn't taking steps to secure the network in the correct manner in the first place, then how is that a punishable crime?

What about some Macs that automatically log in to an unsecured WIFI network as soon as one is available? Are you saying we should "get" all the Mac owners too?

If you're too stupid to take responsibility and properly secure your network/PC from even an accidental log in, you have no right to prosecute those who "break in" to your network.

If you lived in a glass house, would you prosecute everyone who walks by and sees you dressing yourself?
10 Jul 2005 ~ 10:03am Rick I don't think capturing an RF signal that's bombarding your own home is a federal offence. These are unsecured signals that we're all being bombarded with everyday, just because the neighbour's router hasn't been WEP enabled isn't my fault. Now i can understand if i was to actually attempt hacking into his router and or browse his system but using his signal that he hasn't taken the time to secure?????

I actually went to the neighbour's place in order to tell him that his wireless network as well as his two personal PC's on the network were at risk and he just shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps if i change his router password and then print it off on his own printer in big bold letters along with some of the personal info from his numerous word docs he'd be more inclined to listen.

People with wireless routers need to be a little more educated on what you can do to prevent this. You can do this by several ways. For one you can disable your SSIB broadcast or i think which is the most effective if you don't want to enable WEP, is to filter the system's on your home network by way of mac address.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 1:04pm primesuspect

TheSmJ wrote:

If he wasn't doing anything malicious, and you (or the "victim") wasn't taking steps to secure the network in the correct manner in the first place, then how is that a punishable crime?

What about some Macs that automatically log in to an unsecured WIFI network as soon as one is available? Are you saying we should "get" all the Mac owners too?

If you're too stupid to take responsibility and properly secure your network/PC from even an accidental log in, you have no right to prosecute those who "break in" to your network.

If you lived in a glass house, would you prosecute everyone who walks by and sees you dressing yourself?

If I left my door unlocked and someone walked in and took things from my house, a crime is committed.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 3:20pm Preacher

primesuspect wrote:

If I left my door unlocked and someone walked in and took things from my house, a crime is committed.

That isn't an analogous example. If someone walked into your unlocked house and used your phone, but took nothing nor damaged nothing, that would be a similar real world example.

It most definitely is a crime, but a felony? That makes no sense.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 3:31pm QCH

primesuspect wrote:

If I left my door unlocked and someone walked in and took things from my house, a crime is committed.

But you are giving a physical crime... By transmitting your network that is unsecured, you're not just leaving your doors unlocked, but wide open, and posting a sign in the yard that reads, "Estate sale, everything must go... take what you can carry."

If someone had to really "break-in", use brute force techniques, or physically walked into your house to "steal" network traffic, then yes... Bust the guy.

It would be like a radio-station pressing charges for listening to their station when the "Meant to transmit to just a few houses..." If the radio station was a police radio that was encrypted and the guy had to crack the encryption then transmitted on the police band, that’s criminal…

Now what the guy does with the network connection, which should be the real issue.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 3:32pm primesuspect Funny that this example comes up. Just recently someone I know (a teenager) got caught "breaking and entering" into a neighbor's house. They didn't take anything, they just wanted to hang out and use the home theatre system (the homeowners were on vacation). They didn't even break in - the homeowners daughter left the window open specifically for this reason.

According to the police, a crime was definitely committed.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 3:35pm TheSmJ

primesuspect wrote:

If I left my door unlocked and someone walked in and took things from my house, a crime is committed.

Right, but you're not broadcasting your house over your entire neighborhood, making any passerby liable to accidentally "step into your door".
10 Jul 2005 ~ 3:41pm primesuspect It's the intent. If a person knowingly steals internet access from an open hotspot that they know is open because of the user's ignorance, that's criminal. I'm not arguing about the degree of crime or whether it should be a felony or what - i'm just saying that the dude knew he was stealing (slamming the laptop lid when the owner peeked out), and it was definitely a crime.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 4:21pm profdlp

Preacher wrote:

That isn't an analogous example. If someone walked into your unlocked house and used your phone, but took nothing nor damaged nothing, that would be a similar real world example.

It most definitely is a crime, but a felony? That makes no sense.

I agree completely.
10 Jul 2005 ~ 4:49pm Preacher The other interesting cunnundrum would be in an urban area with tons of wireless hotspots (say Manhattan)...what if I connect to someone's unsecured, unencrypted wireless LAN mistakenly believing it was Starbucks or something else? Shouldn't some of the onus be on the wireless LAN owner to protect their signal?
11 Jul 2005 ~ 10:54am jradmin

QCH2002 wrote:

jradmin,

I'm willing to stick up for myself in court for what I think is right. People need to know that unsecured servers and wireless networks are unsafe and can cause very big problems. A server that is compromised can be setup to spam, deliver viruses, DOS attacks... I had no idea who the server belonged to so I could just knock on there door and let them know either.

Where I work (Federal Government), our Security Admins "hack" into unsecured systems onsite in order to show the owners that they are vulnerable. By leaving my name and number, I showed that I'm not afraid to get a phone call and justify my "hacking" into their system. I'd like see them secure the server and network. In the end, I went back several weeks later and the network was gone (or not broadcasting the SSID) so they either took it offline or secured it. Either way, my job is done.

Am I opening myself to possible scrutiny, probably. Thanks for the concern though.

As someone who is in the security field, just giving you fair warning.
11 Jul 2005 ~ 2:19pm QCH Thanks...