Researchers create contagious Wi-Fi virus that spreads like the common cold

TORONTO – Researchers at the University of Liverpool have created an “airborne” computer virus that can move through busy networks as easily as the common cold spreads between humans.

The virus dubbed “Chameleon” was able to move quickly through homes and businesses without detection and was even able to identify points at which Wi-Fi access was least protected by encryption or passwords.

Chameleon was able to travel from network to network using access points that connect computers to the web, according to a simulated attack produced by the university’s computer science team.

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The virus thrived in high-density areas with lots of Wi-Fi access points – spreading from one to another like a cold in humans.

“Wi-Fi connections are increasingly a target for computer hackers because of well-documented security vulnerabilities which make it difficult to defend against a virus,” said Alan Marshall, researcher and professor of network security at the university.

“It was assumed, however, that it wasn’t possible to develop a virus that could attack Wi-Fi networks, but we demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly.”

But what makes this virus so unique is that once it has infected an access point, it can spread to other access points without being controlled by a hacker.

Though this virus was created for research, if a virus similar to this one were to infect public Wi-Fi access points, those using the networks would be left vulnerable to data theft.

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Public Wi-Fi networks and home networks with old and not very strong passwords would be the most at risk if a virus like this were to spread in the real world.

According to a report by BBC, the team at the University of Liverpool is looking into creating a product that would protect Wi-Fi access points from attacks similar to this one.