Out-Law News 1 min. read

Study reveals wireless threats for London businesses


While the number of corporate wireless networks has increased substantially in 2002, London businesses are inviting attacks from hackers and are vulnerable to terrorist activity by failing to secure their WLANs, according to research commissioned by internet security firm RSA Security.

The research, which was carried out by Z/Yen Limited, aimed to quantify the extent to which companies' WLANs in London are insecure, providing potential access to hackers from their car or a nearby building.

According to the report, researchers were able to pick up information from corporate wireless networks by simply driving around the streets of London, using a handheld scanner.

The research identified that 63% of the networks surveyed were left on default configuration, clearly identifying the company owning the data and where it was coming from. According to the report, researchers were even able to pinpoint exactly how many wireless network access points and wireless enabled laptops a business had.

The report claims that many businesses surveyed specifically failed to:

  • Effectively encrypt the data travelling across their wireless networks, enabling hackers to simply pluck company secrets from the air;
  • Change default information on their systems which broadcast the company's name, location and important technical information that can allow hackers to crack any encrypted network;
  • Secure wireless network access points, allowing hackers to set up rogue access points to capture company information; and
  • Secure data on wireless enabled laptops, allowing penetration of local drives and company data.

These findings reveal, according to the report, that London businesses are vulnerable to all kinds of malicious hacking techniques, from eavesdropping on company secrets to computer network disruption and the launch of denial of service attacks using the cover of the unsuspecting company.

Although research on the same issue, commissioned by RSA Security last year, found that 67% of London companies surveyed, as compared to 63% this year, were unprotected, the firm believes the problem is in fact bigger.

This is because, RSA Security claims, the number of WLANs deployed in London businesses has now increased by 300%.

Tim Pickard, strategic marketing director at RSA Security said:

"The threat to London's business has drastically worsened. We have seen a proliferation of the use of wireless networks around London, but the steps taken to secure these networks are still woefully inadequate.

"The research shows that many organisations are now at least encrypting their company data by securing wireless networks with virtual private networks but the problem has shifted to other areas."

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