pmcnamara
News Editor

Another tale of fun with naming Wi-Fi nets

Opinion
Nov 17, 20112 mins

'Of course, people caught on and changed their SSIDs ...'

A recent item here about the FBI allegedly using “FBI Van 1” as a Wi-FI SSID (almost certainly a joke) elicited this anecdote from David Henderson, technology coordinator for the Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative:

“A group of kids from one school district grabbed a laptop and a Wi-Fi finder app and started driving around town.  Every open Wi-Fi spot the found, they attempted to use the default username/password from a list of known logins for various AP makers.  Once logged in, they changed the SSID of any box they could access to a 3-letter acronym.  Before the day was over, they had managed to create a city-wide Wi-Fi network based on the acronym.  You could drive almost anywhere and never lose your connection as (your laptop) was just handed off from AP to AP.  It was great fun.  Of course, people caught on and changed their SSIDs and added security, which was kind of the point.”

I’m guessing it was probably more about the fun … and that the last two letters of the acro were probably HS.

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