Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/21/queensland_war_driving/

Queensland Police go war driving

No evidence of Pringles deployment as force says remain silent

By Simon Sharwood

Posted in Security, 21st March 2012 22:40 GMT

The Hi Tech Crime Investigation Unit* of Queensland's ever-vigilant Police force will shortly spend some of its valuable time driving around Brisbane, the fair tropical state's Capital, looking for open WiFi connections, the better to inform citizens about the terrible dangers that may flow from signal slurping.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said, in a statement, that the force has already spotted lots of open connections and that users who leave WiFi open “may as well put their bank account details, passwords and personal details on a billboard on the side of the highway.”

<cop_speak> “Unprotected or unsecured wireless networks are easy to infiltrate and hack. Criminals can then either take over the connection and commit fraud online or steal the personal details of the owner. This is definitely the next step in identity fraud,”</cop_speak> he added.

If the Unit finds an open connection it will then ruthlessly insert pamphlets into letterboxes near the affected areas. Those pamphlets point readers to an online source of sensible advice on WEP versus WPA WPA2, changing administrator passwords and MAC address filtering. ®

*Queensland Police spell it “Hi” not “High”.