Signal can be hacked, information stolen
The Department of Special Investigation has warned people using electronic devices with wireless and bluetooth functions to be careful of information theft. Patana Sugarasut, senior investigator with the Bureau of High-Tech Crime, said hackers have frequently invaded PCs and stolen personal information from internet users connected via cable to the web.
Now wireless connection to the internet is becoming increasingly popular, with many Thais accessing cyberspace via their mobile phones and other devices both at home and in the work place.
Pol Lt-Col Patana said wireless connections can be hacked into more easily than cable connections.
Pinpointing the theft of information via wireless devices is far more difficult than when computers are connected to the internet via cable, he said.
Police cannot track wireless connection signals between electronic devices.
The signals from most wireless devices spread out over a radius of about 100 metres.
When a computer criminal hacks into a computer via a wireless connection police cannot identify the source of the wireless signal because they cannot identify the direction of the signals between electronic devices.
Producers of wireless devices are continually upgrading their products, he said.
Some have recently launched devices capable of sending a signal a distance 30 to 50 kilometres.
Technology advancement has both positive and negative aspects, Pol Lt-Col Patana said.
The greater the radius of the signal the easier it is to track down and hack into the connection.
Internet users would only know that their information had been stolen after the criminals had used the information and the damage was done, he said.
He also warned users of mobile phones with bluetooth headsets that information in their mobile phones could be stolen while they are actually using the headsets.
Some thieves used notebook computers to steal information from the mobile phones of bluetooth headset users in crowded business or shopping areas, he said.
These had computer software that could locate bluetooth signals. Once the programme found the signal, it would identify both the number of the mobile phone and its owner's name.
The thief would then try sending a short message (SMS) to the mobile so the owner would push a button on the phone, allowing the hacker to connect to it and download the information held inside it, he said.
Pol Lt-Col Patana suggested users of electronic devices with wireless connection systems _ including personal computers, notebooks and mobile phones _ not store their important information on those devices, especially details of financial transactions.
They should also not use wireless devices to make such transactions in public places.
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