Do Not Name Your Wifi Network ‘FBI SURVEILLANCE VAN’

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://gawker.com/5832665/do-not-name-your-wifi-network-fbi-surveillance-van

By Adrian Chen
Gawker
Aug 19, 2011

It is important for everyone to express their creativity and sense of 
humor. But does asserting your individuality really need to involve 
giving your wifi network a wacky name? And do you really need to call it 
"FBI SURVEILLANCE VAN?" You're freaking me out.

17-year-old Florida resident Jared Cano was arrested Tuesday for 
attempting to blow up his high school. It's a generally disturbing 
story, but one bizarre detail in particular made my hair stand on end. 
Two days before he was arrested Cano posted on his Facebook that his 
friend had tried to connect to a wireless network and spied a wifi 
network named "FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN." He was understandably creeped out, 
as you can see in the screenshot above.

Is the FBI really so dumb that they gave themselves away to a mark like 
this? Unless Inspector Clouseau has taken over for Robert Mueller, this 
was not a surveillance van, but a joke by some neighbor. Naming your 
wifi network after a surveillance van is such a common gag that Mashable 
included it on a list of "best wifi names". The butt of the joke this 
time happened to be a guy who was at that moment scheming about how to 
one-up the Columbine massacre. All a strange coincidence!

[...]


_____________________________________________________________
Register now for the #HITB2011KUL - Asia's premier
deep-knowledge network security event now in it's 9th year!
http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2011kul/