New hacking scenario emerges: Wi-Fi signal-sniffing drones

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://defensesystems.com/articles/2014/08/15/drones-can-hack-wifi-networks.aspx

By George Leopold
Defense Systems
Aug 15, 2014

The next major network security threat could come from the sky, in the 
form of drones equipped with video cameras and the ability to sniff out 
mobile devices and their unique identifiers, perhaps even establishing 
rogue network access points in the sky that could be used to hack 
sensitive government or corporate networks.

That's the potential threat, according to security specialists and at 
least one network security company offering detection equipment to address 
the new threat from the sky posed by network-hacking drones.

The inherent openness of Wi-Fi and other wireless networks, along with the 
proliferation of mobiles devices constantly seeking network connections, 
provide a tempting target for signal-sniffing drones. Experts stressed 
that the security perimeter of an office building will now have to include 
the airspace around the structure, because that airspace can be easily 
surveyed by drones at standoff distances capable of relaying video about, 
say, an agency's wireless infrastructure.

In another scenario, security analyst Glenn Wilkinson described how he 
rigged a "distributed, tracking, profiling and data-interception 
framework" called "Snoopy" to a quadcopter drone.

[...]



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