One in four public Wi-Fi networks is not safe


One in four public Wi-Fi networks is not safe



They represent a risk to the personal data of the users who connect



  25% of the world's Wi-Fi networks do not have any encryption or password protection, that is, the information they transmit is completely open and can be intercepted and read by anyone, according to a Kaspersky Lab report.

"After analyzing more than 31 million public Wi-Fi networks or hotspots around the world, Kaspersky Lab has discovered that one in four are not safe and represent a risk to the personal data of users who connect," they say. That means that all the traffic transmitted through these networks, including personal messages, passwords, documents and much more, can be easily intercepted by cyber attackers.

  According to Kaspersky Security Network data, a quarter of the world's Wi-Fi networks do not have any encryption or password protection of any kind. Another 3% of hotspots use WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) to encrypt data. "This protocol is not entirely secure and can be hacked in a matter of minutes with tools that are freely available on the Internet," the firm's analysts explain.

The rest, almost three-quarters of the Wi-Fi hotspots, use a more secure form of encryption based on the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) family of protocols. The effort required to protect these networks depends on the settings, including the password. For example, if it is a weak or publicly accessible password (which is, for example, on screen in a cafe), a cybercriminal could also decrypt any traffic transmitted.

The 20 countries with the highest percentage of unencrypted Wi-Fi hotspots include many tourist destinations: Thailand, France, Israel, the United States, among others. Travelers are often the most vulnerable users because the nearest available Wi-Fi hotspot is often the only way to stay connected.

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