“A quarter of the world’s Wi-Fi networks are so insecure that the only thing stopping hackers from abusing them is their own lack of will,” Sead Fadilpašić writes for BetaNews. “This is according to a new, extensive research by security experts at Kaspersky Lab, which have analyzed more than 31 million public Wi-Fi hotspots all over the world.”
“Basically, 25 percent aren’t using any type of encryption or password protection, meaning the information going through these networks is wide open for everyone to see,” Fadilpašić writes. “Another three percent are using WEP, which is a protocol that can be cracked ‘within minutes, using tools that are freely available on the internet.'”
“Kaspersky Lab advises everyone to stay vigilant and not do sensitive things on these networks, like banking transactions, shopping or logging into different sites,” Fadilpašić writes. “‘We strongly recommend using additional measures to protect traffic, such as VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology,’ explains Denis Legezo, antivirus expert at Kaspersky Lab.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Give that old Mac something good to do – turn it into an inexpensive personal VPN!
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