Researchers at the University of Liverpool have shown for the first time
that WiFi networks can be infected with a virus that can move through
densely populated areas as efficiently as the common cold spreads
between humans.The team designed and simulated an attack by a virus, called
"Chameleon," and found that not only could it spread quickly between
homes and businesses, but it was able to avoid detection and identify
the points at which WiFi access is least protected by encryption and
passwords.Researchers from the University's School of Computer Science and
Electrical Engineering and Electronics, simulated an attack on Belfast
and London in a laboratory setting, and found that "Chameleon" behaved
like an airborne virus, travelling across the WiFi network via Access
Points (APs) that connect households and businesses to WiFi networks.
Areas that are more densely populated have more APs in closer
proximity to each other, which meant that the virus propagated more
quickly, particularly across networks connectable within a 10-50 metre
radius.
Alan Marshall, Professor of Network Security at the
University, said: "When "Chameleon" attacked an AP it didn't affect how
it worked, but was able to collect and report the credentials of all
other WiFi users who connected to it. The virus then sought out other
WiFi APs that it could connect to and infect."
"Chameleon" was
able to avoid detection as current virus detection systems look for
viruses that are present on the Internet or computers, but Chameleon is
only ever present in the WiFi network. Whilst many APs are sufficiently
encrypted and password protected, the virus simply moved on to find
those which weren't strongly protected including open access WiFi points
common in locations such as coffee shops and airports.
Professor
Marshall continued said: "WiFi connections are increasingly a target
for computer hackers because of well-documented security
vulnerabilities, which make it difficult to detect and defend against a
virus.
"It was assumed, however, that it wasn't possible to
develop a virus that could attack WiFi networks but we demonstrated that
this is possible and that it can spread quickly. We are now able to use
the data generated from this study to develop a new technique to
identify when an attack is likely."
Comments
Post a Comment