56pc wireless networks open to hackers
Over half (56pc) of wireless networks in Dublin, Cork and Limerick are vulnerable to attackers, according to the latest wireless vulnerability assessment by Deloitte.
This means that over half of the 6545 networks that were scanned across the three cities are not protected against attacks on their information, exposing sensitive personal or business data to unauthorised users.
The findings of the assessment, which was expanded this year to include Cork and Limerick, has shown that once again the use of wireless encryption to protect wireless networks remains poor. The 56pc of networks found to be vulnerable used either no encryption to protect communications (19pc), or weak encryption which can be trivially broken in a matter of minutes by hackers (36pc).
By analysing those networks that can be identified as either residential or business networks (i.e. excluding public networks), it was found that the incidence of unsecured wireless network drops to 46pc. In addition, further analysis of the business and residential networks reveals that Limerick has the most secure wireless landscape (at 62pc) compared to Dublin and Cork (54pc and 53pc respectively). The survey shows that the level of wireless security in Dublin has remained consistent with last year, when 54pc of connections were also found to be insecure in the capital city.
http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=2506719