Is Your WiFi Network Secure? Study Shows Nearly Half of WiFi Networks are Hackable
According to a recent study carried out in the UK, nearly half of all home WiFi networks can be hacked in under 5 seconds and almost a quarter are not password protected at all. And the shocking part is that 82% percent of these people believed that their networks were secure from hackers.
The study used an “ethical hacking” experiment where researchers spent half an hour in a city using freely available software to hack as many wireless connections as possible. The hackers found that almost a quarter of the private networks, around 9,249, had no password protection at all, and the ones that did used a typical password that could be hacked in seconds.
The most shocking part was that these “ethical hackers” were able to harvest usernames and passwords at a rate of more than 350 an hour when sitting in town center coffee shops and restaurants.
“This report is a real eye-opener in highlighting how many of us have a cavalier attitude to wi-fi use, despite the very real dangers posed by unauthorized use,” CPP identity fraud expert Michael Lynch said.
In conclusion, when setting up your WiFi networks make sure to use strong passwords. For a guide to password strength and protection, check out this blog story. Also, when you’re logged onto a public network, try to avoid websites that require entering a username and password as hackers can easily see what information is being passed through public networks.
(Via News.Sky)
