Protecting Public Hotspots from Hackers,
Lawyers, and Other Ne’er-do-wells:
Concept and Implementation
Philip Leif Bjerknes
Director
Tangerine Unwired Inc.
Alexander “al3x” Payne
Student, Information Security Consultant
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Public and Secure?
• Physical Security
• Liability
• Network Security
• Maintaining Accessibility
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Physical Security
• Theft Prevention
• Environmental Hazards
• Human Error
• Maintaining Power and Connectivity
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Liability
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Network Security
• Platform Choice
• Traffic Shaping/Filtering
• Limiting Services
• Intrusion Detection?
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Maintaining Accessibility
• No Cumbersome Authentication
• No Advertising
• Effective Use of Encryption
• Load Balancing/Traffic Management?
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Open Security in Implementation:
Flying Blowfish
• What it is:
- A distribution of OpenBSD for Soekris
embedded “communication computers”
- Designed to be an “openly secure” public
wireless access point
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Open Security in Implementation:
Flying Blowfish
• Prior Art/Props:
- OpenSoekris
- Flashdist
- M0n0wall
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Open Security in Implementation:
Flying Blowfish
• How it differs:
- Wireless purposed
- Crafty PF ruleset
- No unnecessary services
- Traffic monitoring/statistics
Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Future of Secure
Public Access
• Next generation authentication/public
access clash
• Anonymity and “extrusion detection”
Thursday, February 5, 2009

How to Make a
Flying Blowfish
• 1 shot vodka (pref. Gray Goose)
• 1 shot tequila
• 1 shot lime
• 1 shot sugar syrup
Shake, pour over ice in glass. Fill to top with
Red Bull. Stir. Garnish with one Theo de Raadt.
Enjoy securely.
Thursday, February 5, 2009