Mart Gnosis

Wardrivers and piggybackers on unsecured wireless networks in Queensland, Australia now have reason to fear. The Police have decided to end their era of free riding other people’s networks by warning the owners of the networks in advance.

The Police will be looking for people with open, unsafe networks, and would then tell them about the dangers of it, including piggybacking. They would also tell them about the important measures that they should take to protect themselves. For this purpose, they will dig up the information and data in the same manner as wardrivers do. They hope that by doing so, they will be able to solve the problem before it even manifests itself for a large proportion of Wi-Fi users.

Brian Hay, Detective Superintendent of the Queensland Police, who has recently been given a McAfee International Cybercrime Fighter Award, is very enthusiastic about the program. He stated that the Police would pick small localities, do searches there and use the media to highlight the problems and their consequences. They will inform people about the corrective actions that they need to take as well. If you’re unsure of mobile broadband, or simply want to learn more, refer to a dedicated mobile broadband website for information and advice, and offers such as mobile broadband pay as you go.

He said that it is very similar to an earlier drive when the Police decided to look for unlocked cars in public areas such as railways stations and informed the owners regarding the possible consequences of leaving the car doors unlocked by leaving a message on the car. The Police hope that the new campaign will see similar success.