11:30 pm and Just Got Home

My flight landed at 7:30, but my car’s battery was dead, so a couple hours hanging around Terminal 1, then CAA saved me.

A fast Happy Meal in the driver’s seat, cause can’t shut the car off in case it doesn’t start again, and now finally I’m back in my house, which I still get nervous leaving alone, even though people come to check on it (ty).

I like airports, always have.

I don’t like travelling to the other side of the country, because by the 3rd day when you adjust to the time difference, it’s time to leave.

And days spent in transit are like ghost days: poof, there goes the last Thursday in November that I will remember practically none of. Feels wasteful.

LAX is UGH

Hoovered up 94 MBs while gone.

kk 2 newspaper deadlines tomorrow, so for today that’s me complete TTYT

 

 

Why I Don’t Like Airport WiFi

For years from airports, I’ve tweeted as much:

During a recent trip, I had to send a file out, so was forced to connect.

This is what happened in Chicago O’Hare (ORD):

1 – Boingo is a recognized hotspot provider, okay, I’ll connect to that.

Nope, it’s not working. Oh no, this file needs to go… I have to connect to…

2 – _Free_ORD_Wi-fi  Based on the shady name of this network, I bet I’m about to be MITM’d

3 – Yes I was

***

The Attack

It’s called a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack.

The WiFi network I connected to is likely not affiliated or provided by the airport. Instead, it’s probably an antennae poking out of someone’s backpack.

Using a clever WiFi name, the attacker poses as a legitimate network > I connect to it > now all my traffic is run through the attacker’s computer first, before going out to the internet >as it goes by, the attacker grabs passwords, reads stuff, etc.

(I’ll better explain a MITM attack in the near future)

The Defence

Don’t go online at the airport.  It’s one of the most hostile network in the world.  This environment provides nefarious characters anonymous access to sharpen their skills.

If you must go online, avoid entering passwords, accessing sensitive data, and certainly no online banking.

Okay? Okay.

NOTE – this could be because I was already connected to Google+ , then I automatically attempted to reconnect and I was associated to the captive portal yet, although I was getting a suspicious certificate error, it’s because I was being redirected to the captive portal for login first, and that new IP didn’t resolve to “plus.google.com” that is my browser saying woah. Possibly.

 

 

Why I Like Airports

Watching the people. Everyone seems to have lowered their guard more than normal, and many have totally dropped them.

I wonder if it’s because an airport is such a protected and monitored place, so it feels safe to drop it.

I like walking through the crowds, thinking about how I’m so close to all these different people, and I will never see them again.

Maybe we even bumped into one another, exchanged words and a smile, then nothing ever more guaranteed.

You know the saying, “want to see someone’s true colours? Add stress”. Many people find travelling stressful, so that’s usually entertaining.

There’s the most delicious airport food, able to be eaten one-handed.

And I figure if I’m in an airport, I must be up to something good.

Always have loved airports.

Here’s the blog section.

Pretty good wingtip photo eh.