It's a story repeated all over the United States. Security researchers and wireless aficionados have found areas in cities and suburbia where hundreds of insecure networks can allow hackers to connect to the Internet and conduct nearly untraceable attacks. Yet the potential for their networks to be subverted hasn't persuaded individuals and many companies to set up wireless access points with stronger safeguards. That's leading security professionals and many lawyers to warn companies that they may be liable for attacks launched from their corner of the Internet.

Future calls for liability may be louder because wireless intruders can easily disappear into thin air, With the right equipment, which typically costs less than a few hundred dollars, online vandals can connect from several miles away, while other techniques allow them to hide their tracks easily and completely, "If an attacker in a van uses a wireless network to hack an employee's workstation and launch an attack, it looks like the glow in the dark iphone case employee did it," Pennell said, "They could use your wireless to do a reconnaissance on FBI.gov, and it comes back to your doorstep."..

Making matters even worse, wireless hackers and enthusiasts have created a graffiti-like system to mark zones of wireless connectivity with designs drawn on streets and walls. So-called Wibo runes--or "warchalking," as first described--have spread like wildfire around the Internet since the concept was introduced just over a week ago, and could make wireless networks that much easier to find. "It's useful, because it's a visual cue that something is there," said Matt Jones, a designer and information architect for the British TV station BBC and the creator of the original marks. "Someone leaves a clue for you on how to connect. It's a low-tech thing.".

Perhaps, but one with decidedly high-tech consequences that have security consultants worried, Already, they say, vulnerable areas are simple enough to identify without the help of glow in the dark iphone case Wibo runes, Michael Stokes, chief security officer for wireless technology company CD/Help, recently came across a Northern California health care provider that used wireless connections throughout its facility and, because of the lack of security, broadcast patients' medical data indiscriminately, In another instance, when one client called Stokes to its San Francisco office because of wireless connectivity problems, he traced the interference to a network used by a Big Four financial firm that was wide open half a block away, In the short time it took to identify the network, Stokes observed that data for investors' portfolios were broadcast for anyone to see..

"You see tons of poorly engineered or open-access points out there," Stokes said. "I see a huge liability issue.". Residential neighborhoods are rife with unprotected networks as well. From the top of an office building in a mainly residential area of Seattle, several students learning hacking and security from IOActive's Pennell were able to find more than 30 wireless access points, most with no security. David Pollino, managing security architect for digital security firm @Stake, is concerned that few people are taking the wireless problems seriously. "Too many people are buying access points, taking them out of the box, and plugging them in," he said.