A 42-year-old Australian man faces charges for running fake Wi-Fi access points across various Domestic flights and airports.
An Australian man has been accused and charged for “setting up and running fake access points that were used to mimic legitimate networks and to capture personal data from victims who unintentionally connected to them”, as said by the Australian Federal Police in a press release last week.
According to the agency, the accused illegally and mistrustingly mimicked legitimate Wi-Fi networks by executing what is called an evil twin attack across various locations in Australia, especially in Domestic flights and airports. He tricked the users who tried connecting to the fake access points into entering their credentials through a captive portal web page.
The accused was charged in May 2024 after an investigation was initiated in the previous month in response to a report of an airline employee who identified a suspicious Wi-Fi network while on a domestic flight. This was followed by a baggage search of the defendant on 19 April, which resulted in the confiscating of a portable wireless access device, a laptop, and a mobile phone. A search warrant was then carried out at his residence, which led to his arrest on 8 May 2024.
The defendant has been charged with three counts of unauthorizedly impairing electronic communication devices and three counts of unlawful and illegal possession of data to commit a serious crime. He has also been charged with the unauthorized modification of restricted data, the illegal extraction or retrieval of financial information, and the illegal possession of identification information.
With all the above charges imposed on the accused and upon his conviction, he would face up to 23 years in prison.
“To connect to a free Wi-fi network, you need not enter any personal details such as logging in through a social media or email account”, said AFP Western Command Cybercrime Detective Inspector Andrea Coleman.
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