Third of wireless hotspots in London still unencrypted

gallery

Wireless security is improving in London, according to an experiment carried out by an anti-virus firm.

Researchers from Kaspersky Labs, in its second annual wardriving study, found that security had tightened up significantly from a year ago when the survey was first carried out.

The study looked at 400 hotspots in Canary Wharf and another 400 in the rest of London. It found that 35 per cent of hotspots were running in an unencrypted mode in Canary Wharf, down from 40 per cent a year ago. But in the rest of London, the study found better results with only 31 per cent of hotspots operating with no encryption.

According to Alexander Gostev, senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab, this meant that over a third of hot spots in the Docklands business district could fall prey to hackers.

"This district is also home to a number of international banks (HSBC and Citibank to name a few), insurance companies, news agencies, etc," said Gostev. "These are the very organisations that could be targeted by hackers and fall victim to the theft of commercial information."

But the Wharf was still much better at securing its wireless networks than other cities' business districts. Canary Wharf managed better results than La Defense in Paris. The Paris business district had 37 per cent of hotspots running with no encryption in a survey the company carried out in November last year.

But overall the rest of London fared badly against the rest of Paris in terms of unencrypted networks. The study found that only 29 per cent of hotspots in the French capital were unencrypted.

Gostev said the figure for London had improved by 20 per cent over the last year but much work still had to be done.

"The British capital only needs to work a little more on its networks in order to surpass Paris, but the numbers are now so close that we can say these two cities are on an equal footing," he said. "London's business district, however, needs to make some improvements in order to achieve the level of wireless security enjoyed at La Defense."

Email to a friend

Print this page