Shared Frequencies

Keep in mind that 802.11b operates at the same frequency of a microwave oven. Something as simple as disabling the safety interlock of a consumer microwave oven creates a DoS weapon with up to 1000 watts of 802.11b interference. A more determined black hat may invest in a ‘heavy duty’ antenna, capable of handling up to a 300W²⁴⁸ input from the inner workings of a microwave antenna.

Et Tu, Microsoft?

The issue of rogue wireless LAN’s is so widespread Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently took advantage of it as told to InfoWorld.²⁵⁰

"I was in a hotel in Sun Valley last week that was not wired," Ballmer recalls. "So I turned on my PC and XP tells me there is a wireless network available. So I connect to something called Mountaineer. "Well, I don't know what that is, but I VPN into Microsoft. It worked! I don't know whose broadband I used," he chuckles. "I didn't see it in Bill's room. I called him up and said, 'Hey, come over to my room.' So soon everyone is there and connecting to the Internet through my room."

Now suppose it wasn’t Microsoft employees using the Mountaineer wireless LAN to tunnel into Microsoft. If this was a group who wished to cause the Redmond firm grief, they could have done so without worrying about covering their tracks since a search would go directly to the owner of Mountaineer. “Oops.”