Sneak is not too worried by news of so-called BlueSniper attacks: in which a suitable high-gain antenna gives evil-doers access to your Bluetooth device from a half a mile away. After all, if you're vulnerable to such an attack, you've probably also been vulnerable to attacks from less inventive but suitably inconspicuous people standing next to you at the train station, in the queue at the paper shop, or following you down the street. No, Sneak will be worried when this attack is combined with the similar scare story of three years ago, in which it was shown that a simple Pringles crisp packet could bring a wireless LAN to its knees, or the one where it was shown that executives will tell a clipboard-wielding researcher their password in return for a pen. If the underworld can work out how to learn Sneak’s secrets armed only with pens and Pringles from half a mile away, then Sneak will start worrying.

14 Mar 2005