War Driving: The age of the wireless revolution is two things: scary and inspiring. War driving, the situation where hackers drive through neighborhoods or business parks with amplified, internet connected laptops and virtually steal personal information (including info, money, files, etc.) by breaking into unprotected wireless networks. Everyone wants to live in a world where they feel safe enough to leave their doors unlocked at night, but now we can’t even leave our wireless networks open. Everything needs to multiple layers of strict security in order to allow us even the barest sense of well being when it comes to using this all important aspect of technology which is the internet. Sad. Very sad.
Groupon: On the other hand, something that is not as scary as it is inspiring in the new digital age of enterprise and prosperity through commerce, Groupon is a phenomenon. After only two years of existence, created by two men nearly on their own, the company is now undergoing negotiations to see for billions of dollars. Yes, billions of dollars. All for the seemingly simple concept of offering discounts on normal services offered for a limited time only. This is inspiring because it shows just how far you are able to get with a good idea and a little bit of ingenuity and drive to succeed. A truly amazing thing.
Evil Twins: Now back to the scary stuff. Everyone loves wifi. And what does everyone love more than wifi? Free wifi. What’s better than rolling into a Starbuck’s or Panera Bread Company, sitting down with the laptop or smart phone and connecting to the internet, reading you email or what have you, all for free? The concept of the evil twin is farily insidious. A, let’s call them “undesireable,” brings in a portable wifi network of his own, and sets it up to look exactly like the popular wifi already in place. He sets up a fake login screen that asks people for their credit card information and boom. He has your credit card and can do what he wants with it. Scary stuff. Unfortunately, the internet and all its wonders can also be really scary.
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