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Westchester County passes WiFi security law
Late last year we told you about Westchester County Executive Andy Spano's law, which proposed making it illegal for Westchester County business to have open WiFi. Well, guess what: it passed. Granted, we've learned a few things about this law that makes us a little less sketch; for example, it only applies to WiFi networks of businesses that store customer credit cards or financial information -- or, to a lesser degree, cafes and hotels and the like, which if operating an open WiFi hotspot, must now post signage advising patrons to use a firewall and be wary of their network security. And even when the law goes into effect in six months it'll just be wrist-slaps: a third-offense business risks receiving a paltry $500 fine. Granted, we have no idea how Westchester plans to enforce scofflaw companies who won't change their default SSIDs (how you gonna identify who's got the Linksys?), install firewalls on servers, and implement WEP or WPA crypto, but we will definitely be keeping an eye out for city positions that read something like: "looking for hacker experienced in wardriving and snarfing / must know kismet, snort, nmap, like tools."[Via Ars Technica]
