BBC Watchdog: Wifi hot spots 'not secure'

[Tony]

Wi-fi hot-spots across the country are not secure and are vulnerable to attack.

An investigation by Watchdog will reveal on tonight's show (BBC One, 8pm) that the UK's top three wi-fi providers; BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile are all susceptible to attack by hackers - leaving tens of thousands of users at risk of fraud.

Thousands of these hotspots are available nationwide in hotels, trains, airport lounges and high street food outlets but they may not be as safe as some users had anticipated.

According to Tom Illube, from internet security firm Garlik, over the last year there has been a 207% increase in 'account takeover fraud', where criminals try and access existing accounts rather than using stolen identities. In light of this he thinks the vulnerability of wi-fi hotspots is worrying.

Tom Illube said: "I think a lot of people don't realise that using public wi-fi that's insecure is pretty much like writing your bank details onto a postcard and popping it in the post and being surprised that someone's read it."

Watchdog used equipment readily available on the internet to hijack wireless traffic at a variety of hotspots, while experts working with the programme-makers could have been able to take control of other hotspot users' internet accounts. Once inside these accounts, malicious hackers would have then been able to harvest masses of personal data which could enable them to access the users' accounts on a variety of websites, including those for shopping and banking.

Watchdog asked 'Crimewatch' presenter and former policeman Rav Wilding to set up an email account on a laptop at a wireless hotspot. The 'Watchdog' team were able to access Rav's email within seconds before freezing him out of his account altogether. So although Rav was no longer able to use his email, the team still had full access to it.

The Watchdog team were also able to access the email accounts of two members of the Watchdog audience viewing everything the users were doing online, including their email and social networking activities.

Believing the process demonstrated by Watchdog is particularly alarming as it does not require particularly high-level skills or know-how, Tom Illube also said: "You don't have to be a super hacker to get into this sort of information and therefore it's becoming more widespread and we as consumers need to be more careful about how we use them and what we use them for."

One way of protecting wi-fi connections at public hotspots is to use a Virtual Private Network or VPN. Although BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile all suggest using VPNs, only T-Mobile offer them as a software download when users log on.

Following Watchdog's investigation the three big hotspot providers told the programme that they would do more to encourage the use of VPNs to protect wi-fi users.

BT Openzone said they were reviewing their "proactive approach to providing secure and user friendly authentication". T-Mobile have now revised the wording on their hotspot homepage to emphasise use of VPNs and The Cloud say that they will make their information on security more easily accessible and are looking at how VPN technology can be developed in the future.

Catch Watchdog tonight on BBC One at 8pm.



Wifi hot spots 'not secure'