Beware: Your Wi-Fi can be hacked, Chennai cops warn of cyber theft

Chennai: Chennai police and top brass of Chennai telephones are now investigating a first of its kind cyber theft where a few youngsters in north Chennai have cracked Wi-Fi password of customers.

These college students have been illegally using their mobile phones to download Internet and mails free of cost. The group after identifying the houses with Wi-Fi connection will crack the password and then start using the Internet from a nearby location.

Preliminary investigation by BSNL had revealed that youngsters have also exchanged the passwords with friends for free net connection. Following a complaint to Chief General Manager, the top brass of BSNL are now working on the issue.

Switch off Wi-Fi modem when not in use
City cops and Chennai telephones are investigating a cyber theft where a few youngsters in north Chennai have cracked Wi-Fi password of customers. The authorities are also sensitising their staff and training sessions are to follow, said former Telecom Regulatory Commission member V Sathiabalan, who on Wednesday lodged a complaint with city cyber crime wing.

“I have a BSNL telephone landline connection with a broadband facility under 1091 plan which allows unlimited usage with speed of 8Mbps until 60GB and speed of 512 kbps beyond 60GB within a month. During the last three months, I observed that my net speed was not up to 8Mbps, in spite of my limited usage of Internet”, explains Sathiabalan.

During the current month (March, 2016), I noticed the speed decreased within 13 days indicating exhaustion of 60GB of Internet use in spite of my limited usage and I knew that something was wrong and I changed the password, but again it was cracked.

In the meantime I also enquired in my area about this and found out that some youth in the area are using apps to hack Wi-Fi user ids and password to avail themselves of free Internet”, he said.

To create awareness, I have lodged a police complaint and there is a need for Wi-Fi service providers to provide secured Wi-Fi networks, he added.
The concern is that technical menace like hacking into others Wi-Fi facility may cause great misery to service holder financially and legally if Internet is misused for anti-national activities, explains advocate V Rajendiran, who specialises in cyber crime cases.

In most cases, the public do not understand the seriousness of data security and there are cases where netizens fail to switch off Wi-Fi modem, fail to sign out their mails and at times go for weak passwords, the advocate added.

Wi-Fi modems are vulnerable for hacking and poor configuration of such modems is a threat for customers. Weak passwords, failure of adequate security settings, outdated firewalls and use of default configurations make the telecom networks vulnerable for attacks, an ethical hacker, seeking anonymity, told DC. There are more than 13 wireless hacking tools, he said.