http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/15392112.htm By Sarah Jane Tribble Mercury News Aug. 30, 2006 The days of easily stealing wireless Internet access from your neighbor may soon be over. The state Assembly on Tuesday approved rules requiring wireless manufacturers, such as laptop makers, to instruct consumers on how to step up security measures and stop would-be piggybackers from accessing their personal networks. The bill, which the governor is expected to sign, would take effect in January. If piggybackers or hackers gained access to your network, they could post and distribute illegal information, such as child pornography. More sophisticated hackers could use the access to scan all your personal files and programs, said Ken Baylor, director of market development and strategic alliances at McAfee, the Santa Clara-based anti-virus software maker. ``It's a small burden on the manufacturers to produce a document saying this is how to secure this device,'' Baylor said. ``California has led the way with data leakage, and I think California sometimes nudges people in the direction of best practices.'' The bill, written by Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, asks manufacturers to include a warning label that would provide easy-to-use instructions for how to protect personal files. The warning label could appear in one of four ways: * A warning sticker placed on the ports of a wireless router. * A warning that appears when installing a wireless device. * An alert that requires consumers to take action before the device is used. * Or other, unspecified protections on the wireless connection. The options give manufacturers a ``great deal of flexibility'' when developing the consumer protections and are indicative of a broad best-practices policy being adopted within the industry, said Frank Hanzlik, managing director of Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit industry association. The alliance, which has 275 member companies, plans to introduce its own standardized protective setup program within the next couple of months, he said. The industry's development of security measures for consumers comes after a series of high-profile laptop thefts attracted attention and raised questions about the security of personal information. Steven Maviglio, deputy chief of staff for Núñez, said the speaker was inspired to write the bill after an eye-opening experience at his home last year: While Núñez and Maviglio worked late one night on a project, Núñez watched Maviglio pull up three networks while using a handheld device. ``He was amazed and bemused that you could take advantage of someone else's service like that,'' Maviglio said. _________________________________ HITBSecConf2006 - Malaysia The largest network security event in Asia 32 internationally renowned speakers 7 tracks of hands-on technical training sessions. Register now: http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2006kl/
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