[October 1, 2004]

Meet Tombros: The First Convicted U.S. Wardriver

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Please meet Nicholas Tombros, not your regular techie. He had a hobby called wardriving—the act of driving around in a quest for unprotected hot-spots [better known as WiFi (define - news - alert) access points)] and use them to blast unsolicited e-mail advertising; everything from free porn to dangerous computer virus spreads. Tombros made history this week, however, when he pleaded guilty to charges of utilizing unauthorized access to a computer to distribute multiple commercial spam e-mail messages, making him the first convicted felon charged under the Can-Spam Act, signed last year.

Tombros is the first convicted felon under the Can-Spam Act, but not the only one being investigated and arrested for committing the same illegal acts. Since it became law, Can-Spam has failed to generate significant litigation, despite the continued proliferation of spam marketing campaigns.

Last year, Adam Botybl and Paul Timmons ended up as suspects in a case of a wireless break-in to steal credit card data from a Lowe's department store in Michigan, they were arrested and both pleaded guilty of transmitting data to intentionally damage a protected computer. Other reported incidents include a case in Canada involving the use of an unsecured hotspot to retrieve child porn—when a Toronto police officer stopped a car for a traffic violation to later discover the driver being naked from the waist down and playing a porn video apparently streamed through residential wireless hot spot on his laptop.

This case should raise the wireless network providers' eyebrows on the extremely significant lack of security in these environments.

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