1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, 4 Mississippi, 5 Mississippi. And now you're Wi-Fi network's been hacked.
Card protection research and insurance company CPP found that nearly half of the UK's home Wi-Fi networks can be hacked in less than five seconds. Of the 40,000 networks identified in the six cities, just under 20,000 had no password or the most basic form of security encryption.
In the ”ethical hacking” experiment, researchers spent half an hour in each city using freely available software to use as many unsecured wireless connections as possible. Almost a quarter of the private networks (9,249) had no password, despite 82% of Britons believing their network is secure.
And those who are password protected aren't necessarily, well, protected. The study found that even password-protected networks were not secure, with hackers able to breach a typical password in seconds.
CPP identity fraud expert Michael Lynch said: ”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 unauthorised use."
Are you keeping your network secure?
Source: Telegraph