Scientists from the British University of Liverpool have developed a new virus that exclusively attacks WiFi networks and spreads through the air. For conventional security systems, Chameleon, as they named it, is essentially invisible.
Professor Alan Marshall and his research team developed a virus in the laboratories of the University of Liverpool that spreads through wireless computer networks like an airborne infection, and successfully simulated an attack of this virus on a WiFi network. Chameleon can fool conventional security systems and actively seek out and attack the weakest points of wireless WiFi networks, such as open connections at airports or in internet cafés. After it nests in a WiFi access point, it begins collecting information about other currently connected network users, and subsequently connects to surrounding access points and infects them. The speed of virus propagation therefore increases in direct proportion to the density of access points. Professor Marshall thus demonstrated that it is possible and very realistic to create an invisible virus attacking wireless networks. The research was published in the EURASIP Journal on Information Security. Now Prof. Marshall's team is focusing on developing a defense that will be able to detect attacks by similar "chameleons." Once this protection is available, we might be surprised by what has been lurking on WiFi networks along with us for who knows how long... As Greenhousing, we love all living things, but some creatures like the WiFi Chameleon we simply do not support. red