A team of UK researchers has demonstrated that infected Wi-Fi networks can spread a virus in densely populated areas as efficiently as the common cold moves among humans. They sought to disprove assumptions that developing a virus able to attack Wi-Fi networks is impossible. Scientists from the University of Liverpool, Queen’s University Belfast, and software vendor Traffic Observation via Management in Belfast designed a simulated Wi-Fi virus attack on Belfast and London. In the simulation, their Chameleon virus spread quickly between homes and businesses, while avoiding detection. The virus moved via access points after discovering those least protected by encryption and passwords. The researchers are using their findings to develop a technique to identify when a Wi-Fi virus attack is likely. They published their work in the journal EURASIP Journal on Information Security. (SlashDot)(PhysOrg)(University of Liverpool)(EURASIP Journal on Information Security)
