"Here I sat in a small, local coffee shop that had just shelled out a decent chunk of change for someone to implement a relatively sophisticated authentication system that protects both themselves and their customers. "

Or with a little knowledge, they may have done it for free. A quick Google search on "captive portal" turns up quite a few options, many of which are FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) based solutions.

http://www.publicip.net/
http://www.lessnetworks.com/
http://www.chillispot.org
http://nocat.net/
http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/PortalSoftware


They could have easily done this for about $1k even with pay-based products.

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=2&pid=402
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=2&pid=282


[ reply ]

Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/305/30844#30844