:: Deepquest ::

The aroma of a Thanksgiving Day feast filled the house! Jake had deliberately eaten very little all morning, anticipating his wife’s delicious turkey dinner. He settled back into his most comfortable chair, enjoying the last quarter of a football game on TV. This was the first time in almost a month that Jake had allowed himself the pleasure of relaxing.

Grimacing, he remembered the terrible Halloween night when some ghostly fiend had hacked into his home office network and destroyed all of his computer files.

Now, his heart skipped a beat every time the little columns of green and yellow lights on his wireless access point flickered. Had the unknown assailant returned to wreak more havoc? But there had been no attacks since Halloween. This was the only blessing, since it had taken Jack weeks to recover his lost files and e-mail messages. The loss of critical data had meant time slippage in Jake’s programming projects. He was fortunate not to have lost his job.

During the weeks following the attack, Jake’s anger at the destructive intrusion had turned to cold, calculating reason. Jake knew he had been very lax about securing his wireless network. He had foolishly failed to take even the simplest and most obvious of security measures, like changing the password on his wireless router. In his excitement of enjoying a wireless connection from his laptop, Jake had failed to change any of the factory default login and password settings. Even the default IP address [192.168.0.1] was still in use! In retrospect, he wondered how many hundreds of thousands of home and commercial access points currently in use were still on their default settings?

Merely performing the rudimentary tasks to protect his wireless connection was not enough for Jake. He wanted to catch the culprit. Suspecting?even hoping?that the hacker would return, Jake wanted to be able to detect any future wireless intruders. After spending time exploring the security features of his off-the-shelf access point, Jake found that software existed that would trap the IP addresses of any ‘visitors’ to his network. Granted, this wasn’t as good as a name and postal address, but it was a start. He’d downloaded the necessary free software, setting an automated alarm that would alert him the next time an intrusion was detected.

After finishing a fine feast of stuffed turkey with fresh cranberry sauce and all the trimmings, Jake wandered contently down to his home office. He slowly sat down at his desk and prepared for a little Websurfing. It took his brain several seconds to realize what his eyes were telling him; someone had just tried to enter his access point! Jake quickly powered off his laptop and raced upstairs. He ran outside into the brisk November afternoon, looking all around his house. He half expected to find some overweight, scruffy-looking programmer lurking near his bushes or in a parked car. But he found no one except his neighbor Bill, who was taking out the trash.

Jake rushed over to Bill to see if he had seen any dubious characters, and quickly explained that someone was trying to break into his network. With dawning comprehension, Bill placed a reassuring hand on Jake’s shoulder and invited him inside. “You need to talk with the expert,” Bill chuckled. “My son Tim is home from college. If anyone can help you with computer matters, it’s him,” Bill said proudly.

Jake had always enjoyed his neighbor’s company, though he could hardly believe that Tim was old enough to be in college. They entered Bill’s house, and Jake sat down on the living room couch, waiting for Tim to return. There, he noticed Tim’s open laptop on the coffee table. What he saw made him flinch; it was a complete listing of the file directory on Jake’s own computer. “WHAT IS THIS!” he shouted. Bill rushed to Jake’s side just as Tim entered. Tim stopped dead in his tracks, staring at his father’s angry neighbor.

Jake had read that nearly 50% of Wi-Fi network users would enjoy accessing their neighbors’ network, but he’d never suspected that his own good neighbor would be among them. “You have one minute to explain why you hacked into my computer before I call the police,” Jake said coldly to Tim. Suddenly, the season of giving thanks had turned into the season of suspicion.

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