If a gang of burglars were caught robbing a department store one night, you’d say to throw the book at them. You’d be glad they were caught and think the Police were doing a great job and be happy for the store stopping a loss that raises costs and prices for all of us, right?
But what if you found out that the persons caught stealing from the store found the door unlocked and just helped themselves? Maybe you wouldn’t feel so sympathetic toward the store with the inept security. Maybe you’d feel that, while it was still wrong to take something from the store, those who did were lured into doing it by the open door. Maybe you’d wonder if you wanted to do business with the store.
Well, that’s exactly the situation with the recent arrests and indictment of 11 people who got caught stealing millions of credit card numbers from a bunch of major name retail companies through their wide-open wireless network. Apparently, they put in wireless network equipment and left it unencrypted, leaving them with less security than I use for my home network. Continue Reading…