Inside Dark Networks

California Assembly Bill 2415 ( by Speaker Fabian Núñez ) passed today and now goes to the Governor. What does it actually do?
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a46/press/a462006116.htm

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15397371.htm
Hopefully it means more secure wireless networks. In the Bay Area almost 50% of consumer wireless access points have no encryption turned on. Many of these devices have their passwords still set to the defaults. This bill means that manufacturers of WiFi devices will have educate home users how to secure their networks, or at least alert them to the risks if they chose not to.

Identity theft is a major threat to Californians. Most WiFi devices lack protection, making home users easy prey for hackers. Once intruders gain access, they can wreak havoc inside your home network and steal personal information and install spyware. Consumers should be educated on the risks of wireless access and the additional steps needed for protection. These include:

1) Change default passwords on WiFi routers
2) Turn on the highest level of encryption possible (currently WPA2)
3) Turn off SSID Broadcasting (hiding the network)
4) Turn on MAC filtering (only pre-approved machines may join the network)
5) Install Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and desktop firewalls on all machines.

The law has been well covered below:
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2006/09/01.shtml
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15395913.htm
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=102598&WT.svl=news1_3