People expect public Wi-Fi at nearly all the places we go and expect to be connected all the time. Wi-FI users regularly connect to Wi-Fi in their homes, but they require mobility. According to the survey of Xirrus, a Wi-Fi tech company, 49% of them connect to public Wi-Fi at least three times a week, and 31% connect everyday. 89% of users connect to more than one network a day because people would switch to home and work Wi-Fi networks which are private, safe and only accessible to selected users. In addition, 70% of users are even willing to change hotels for better connection and security, but the need to be connected overcomes security concerns. Few public Wi-Fi networks encrypt and protect our data when we connect. This means private information are at risk of being stolen every time a person connect to a public Wi-Fi. Although 91% of the respondents admit that public Wi-Fi is insecure, 89% use it anyway. That means most of users are aware of the security risk of public Wi-Fi, but most of them decide to ignore it. The good news is that most public Wi-Fi networks holding by restaurants, airports or hotels are required to upgrade to provide better security for customers. Over public Wi-Fi, 83% of users access their emails, 68% of users access social medias, and 18% even log in for online banking. Although most of users know phishing, but there are still 30% of users unfamiliar to ransomware that is a malware installed on a victim’s computer, executes attacks to encrypt or access to your data and demands a payment to decrypt it or not publish it. The number of victims and the amount of demanded payment keeps increasing. 85% of users would blame themselves for. hacks, while only 32% would blame Wi-Fi vendors and 24% would blame the venue. Wi-Fi users have to take the burden because most business do not educate their employees or provide necessary tools to help them stay safe. 46% of employees said that they didn’t receive any security training, and only 39% said they received one to two trainings in the past year. Companies should have their employees educated and trained regularly to ensure that they are always aware of the importance of security and won’t put their personal or work-related information under the risk of being exposed. However, there is still a large gap between employers encourage secure behavior and those do not. 47% employees are encouraged to use VPN for working when they are traveling for business. The good news is that most public Wi-Fi networks holding by restaurants, airports or hotels are required to upgrade to provide better security for customers.
Link: http://www.darkreading.com/cloud/public-wi-fi-use-grows-despite-security-risks/d/d-id/1327206
I am super paranoid about connect to any open Wifi network. It is so easy to hijack an open wifi or just have a fake one setup. It is just not worth the risk to connect to an open network. One thing to keep in mind, even you if decide to connect on open wifi and you might not even check your email or social media, you are still connecting using those accounts since they are working in the background. They will still be vulnerable to theft.
This article should be a wake-up call for people who often use public Wi-Fi. These statistic numbers are shocking. The way I see this is similar to the driving and texting problem. People in large numbers are aware of local laws against it, but are willing to take the risk regardless. Therefore, better solutions need to be implemented. A quick solution to this would be for State Officials to enact laws requiring top notch security and encryption for all public places providing Wi-Fi.
It wasn’t until I was in this program that I didn’t realize or thought that public hot spots were not safe. I have a totally different outlook on what networks I connect to when I am out. It seems like that organizations need to strengthen their security and strengthen type of encryption that is used for Wi-Fi.