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Unsecured Wi-Fi: A Cause For Concern?
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-06-29
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Researchers at the University of Indiana found that almost half of the Wi-Fi access points in Indianapolis don't run encryption. This seems like a major oversight. But security expert Bruce Schneier thinks it doesn't particularly matter.
The study, which involved nearly 2,500 access points in Indianapolis, was presented earlier in the week at the University of Cambridge. It found that 46 percent of them weren't running encryption of any sort.
As reported by Tom Espiner on CNET, Matthew Hottell, a lecturer in informatics at the college, explained the lapse in protection. "People just really don't care about Wi-Fi security, and open Wi-Fi at home is a nice big target," he said. "Defaults (settings) are king."
Hottell seemed to believe the situation is unlikely to improve. "Education seems to have little effect. People with a higher economic status are not responsive to the heightened risk of privacy erosion, and people in general don't recognize that higher population density (heightens risk)."
A comment from Bruce Schneier seemed to both support Hottell's statements and dismiss any concerns. "I have a completely open Wi-Fi network," he said to ZDNet UK. "Firstly, I don't care if my neighbors are using my network. Secondly, I've protected my computers. Thirdly, it's polite. When people come over they can use it."
Richard Clayton, a security expert at the University of Cambridge, also suggested there wasn't much to worry about. His questions showed that the "wardriving team" had not tried to exploit any systems, and that therefore the "unsecured networks" were not "necessarily insecure."
And so, although the implications are mixed, the fact remains that almost half of the Wi-Fi access points in a metropolitan area weren't running encryption. That's definitely food for thought.
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About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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