Re: How to find out client physical location?

Jammu wrote:
> We have a public wlan for visitors in our company. Now our admin guy
> says someone is downloading clearly illegal stuff and it seems this has
> been going on for some time now. He says he can easily block out this
> guy, but I would like to call cops (guess what he is up/downloading?).

Several things to consider...

Since its a public WLAN and if a visitor is using it, its not an
employee issue that HR can deal with.

If its been going on for some time, that would point to an employee
or regular visitor.

It appears that IT knows enough about it to be able to lock out the
wireless client MAC address, so if its an employee that person will
ask what the problem is with his/her connection. But on the other
hand, the employee may have a wired connection for company biz and
just using the wireless for the inappropriate stuff, so killing the
wireless MAC may not be reported.

Sniffing around for the wireless client? I'm sure that if you
wal around with a laptop in one hand and Yagi antenna in the other,
it might tip off someone what you're looking for.

Call the cops? Good question. Some states (there might even be a
federal law also) that obligates you to report certain activity,
i.e. if you repair someone's computer and discover certain files,
you have to report it. With the confusing language of so many
statutes, a wireless client could very well be considered part of a
computing system and therefore you might be obligated to report it.

DTC wrote:
> Jammu wrote:
>> We have a public wlan for visitors in our company. Now our admin guy
>> says someone is downloading clearly illegal stuff and it seems this has
>> been going on for some time now. He says he can easily block out this
>> guy, but I would like to call cops (guess what he is up/downloading?).
>
> If its been going on for some time, that would point to an employee
> or regular visitor.

Or someone in a nearby building who has noticed they can pick up your
free wlan. Really, a company ought to know better than have an open wlan
- its a magnet for abuse.

> It appears that IT knows enough about it to be able to lock out the
> wireless client MAC address,

Might work temporarily - but anyone savvy enough to access it will be
able to change their MAC and get back in.

> Sniffing around for the wireless client? I'm sure that if you
> wal around with a laptop in one hand and Yagi antenna in the other,
> it might tip off someone what you're looking for.

That might be good enough to scare them off, if its an employee or
regular visitor. You could also redistribute your company IT policy, and
create / distribute one to visitors, perhaps with an accompanying note
saying that someone was recently caught abusing the free wlan, and that
future transgressors will face disciplinary and possibly police action.

> Call the cops? Good question. Some states (there might even be a
> federal law also) that obligates you to report certain activity,
> i.e. if you repair someone's computer and discover certain files,
> you have to report it. With the confusing language of so many
> statutes, a wireless client could very well be considered part of a
> computing system and therefore you might be obligated to report it.

It is, and you would be .

Social engineering is the solution probably. If its someone actually in
the building - whether staff or visitor - then the above suggestions
ought to scare them off.

In message <13o21fncs2lsdba@corp.supernews.com> Mark McIntyre
<markmcintyre@spamcop.net> wrote:

>Social engineering is the solution probably. If its someone actually in
>the building - whether staff or visitor - then the above suggestions
>ought to scare them off.

It doesn't sound like the goal is to scare him off, there are easy ways
of doing that, especially if someone is doing something illegal.

Finding the person could be far more fun.