16th USENIX Security Symposium
Pp. 323338 of the Proceedings
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Proximity Breeds Danger:
Emerging Threats in Metro-area Wireless Networks
Abstract:
The growing popularity of wireless networks and mobile devices is starting to
attract unwanted attention especially as potential targets for malicious
activities reach critical mass. In this study, we try to quantify the threat
from large-scale distributed attacks on wireless networks, and, more
specifically, wifi networks in densely populated metropolitan areas. We focus
on three likely attack scenarios: "wildfire" worms that can spread
contagiously over and across wireless LANs, coordinated citywide phishing
campaigns based on wireless spoofing, and rogue systems for compromising
location privacy in a coordinated fashion. The first attack illustrates how
dense wifi deployment may provide opportunities for attackers who want to
quickly compromise large numbers of machines. The last two attacks illustrate
how botnets can amplify wifi vulnerabilities, and how botnet power is amplified
by wireless connectivity.
To quantify these threats, we rely on real-world data extracted from wifi maps
of large metropolitan areas in the States and Singapore. Our results suggest
that a carefully crafted wireless worm can infect up to 80% of all wifi
connected hosts in some metropolitan areas within 20 minutes, and that an
attacker can launch phishing attacks or build a tracking system to monitor the
location of 10-50% of wireless users in these metropolitan areas with just
1,000 zombies under his control.
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