Survey Reveals Extent of Wi-fi Security

A recent survey of wireless networks found that a third of users had their default security settings turned off. The RSA Security which was conducted in London, Frankfurt, New York and San Francisco revealed that this was even worse than last year's figure of 15%. Here are some observations from a BBC article - Warnings on woeful wi-fi security - on the results:

Although most firms do take steps to turn on the security functions built in to the wi-fi standard and protect themselves from attack, the survey found that a significant proportion were taking unnecessary risks.

On average 33% of the wireless networks found by RSA and NetSurity researchers in London, Frankfurt, New York and San Francisco had not used basic security systems.

Many firms were simply turning on their wireless net access points and use default settings that anyone familiar with wi-fi could easily find out.

The rapid rise of wireless hotspots has also seen an increase in "drive-by hacking", where criminals cruise city centers looking for wi-fi nets. Yet many users are failing to turn on "the encryption that scrambles data traffic between users and the access point helping them go online."