Public Wi-Fi Often Wide Open, But Who Cares?

Nice article by David Colker of the LA Times, republished here in the Chicago Tribune: Public Wi-Fi may turn your life into an open notebook. He vividly reminds us that surfing with your notebook at Starbucks can be a less than private experience. There is quite a bit of personal irony in this for me.

Wi-Fi at Starbucks is served by T-Mobile which made a big noise in October of 2004 about offering secure Wi-Fi at all its hot spots: T-Mobile Rolls Out Strong Security at Wi-Fi Hot Spots. I am personally aware of this because back then I was Chief Security Executive at STSN, now iBAHN, which provides Internet service to thousands of hotels, hotel lobbies, restaurants, and conferences around the world. At the time, iBAHN was close to completing its own roll-out of secure Wi-Fi and was under the impression it would be the first such major provider to offer this level of security at all its locations. Naturally, T-Mobile's announcement stung, partly because it garnered headlines while being ambiguous. Consider this "reporting" which is close to the wording of T-Mobile's press release:

T-Mobile is introducing strong, 802.1x-based authentication and encryption across its network of 4,700 hot spots. The move, which appears to be the first use of advanced 802.1x-based security by a national mobile carrier in U.S. hot spots leverages the existing 802.1x infrastructure used to authenticate GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) cell-phone users. "CIOs across the country have been asking for enhanced security, and we're the first U.S. wireless carrier to deliver it.

But T-Mobile was not the first to deliver strong, 802.1x-based authentication and encryption. iBAHN was already doing that, but had not talked about it publicly because the roll-out was not complete. T-Mobile decided to claim the glory by talking about their own roll-out before it was complete. I know because, at the time of the announcement, I was in downtown Chicago and I walked many blocks to test several Starbucks locations to see if 802.1x authentication was indeed available. The results were mixed, some consolation to my boss, Brett Molen, iBAHN's CTO, and CEO David Garrison.

Despite the fact that Brett and David were two of the best bosses I have ever had, I decided to leave iBAHN in 2005 and take a break from the corporate world. For a while I lost track of the secure hotspot debate. But now I am back "on the road again," so to speak, I have had occasion to try the Wi-Fi at Starbucks in several locations around the world over the last six months and have noticed that the logon had changed considerably. It's a lot less complicated, with a lot less warning about potential security problems, than it was in 2004, and 802.1x-based authentication was apparently not offered.

Which suggests that there is considerable truth to what some of us security experts have been saying ever since computers escaped from Fortress Data Center in the eighties: Unless security is really simple and seamless, users won't use it. About the only exception to this is the user who has been educated about the risks. That is why iBAHN spent a lot of time educating its chosen market place (hotels and conferences) about those risks. And that is why iBAHN makes money selling secure connectivity at a premium.