Some 12% of Consumers 'Borrow' Unsecured Wi-Fi

alphadogg writes "Despite the fact that it's often considered an illegal act, a sizeable percentage of the UK/US internet-using population 'borrows' unsecured Wi-Fi access. This is according to a study conducted by the group Accenture. 'The Accenture study found that computer users are still engaging in some unsafe computing practices. Nearly half of all respondents said that they used the same password for all of their online accounts, and only a quarter of them have ever encrypted files on their computers.'" My guess is the actual figure is higher than that.

news..

This just in:
People on the internet 'steal' stuff they should pay for.

Re:news..

I lost my original reply when my neighbor turned off his wi-fi router. Some people are so rude.

Re:news..

No problem. Don't park your car on the street with the keys in it and with someone standing there offering to open the door to passer-bys who want to go for a ride. If your wireless connection is unsecured and offers DHCP configuration to anyone who wants to join, it's an open invitation. Basic security and MAC filtering are easy to configure. They won't stop a determined or knowledgable hacker, but that isn't the point. Anyone who's hacking in knows they're intruding where they aren't wanted and are committing an illegal act. But if you leave it wide open and the welcome mat out, then don't be surprised if someone makes use of your network.

And don't paint it just like every other car...

...in the area.

I set my parents house up with secured wifi 3 years ago... Last year my parents got a new laptop, and went about using wifi. 6 months pass. They get a new printer... I tell them that they can print from their laptop, over the network, and try to talk my dad through setting it up... After much confusion, I realize they are not on the wifi network that I set up for them, but one of their neigbhors...

My parents are smart, they just didn't grow up using computers, and don't think about the kind of things that most slashdot users think about... typical boomers... I bet 12% (or more) of laptop users steal wifi, without even knowing it...

Re:And don't paint it just like every other car...

I have a friend who asked me to set up her wireless router. She lives in a big apartment building. So I connect to "Linksys", configure some stuff, turn on encryption, set the password, all good. Disconnect. Connect. What? No encryption? No password? Stupid thing must be broken. Oh well, try again, maybe it will take. Repeat. Four or five times.

Then I took a look down the list of wireless networks in the building. What do you know... I'd just finished encrypting and setting passwords on all the neighbor's wifi. Whoops. ;)

Re:And don't paint it just like every other car...

WEP will keep out the non-resourceful and the lazy but that's about it.

Isn't that almost everyone?

Re:news..

To me stealing Wi-Fi is a bit like stealing a pizza out of somebody's grocery bag. Silly.

Stealing Wi-Fi is not just silly, it's pointless.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but wherever I need to use wireless, I just use that free and ubiquitous 'Belkin 54g' network.

Re:news..

This knee-jerk debate always comes down to one thing: broadcasting.

If you leave your front door unlocked, you're probably not standing on the porch yelling "Free house, come and get it!" and handing out name tags. If you do, then you can't turn around and claim the guests were trespassing.

If you install an unsecured Wi-Fi gateway with DHCP, the device is yelling to everyone within 100 meters "Free network, come on in" and handing out IP addresses to any takers. It is _YOUR_ responsibility for leaving it open.

The argument against locking routers down by default, is that it's too complicated for the user. Bullshit! People use locks and keys all the time for their home, car, office, filing cabinet, safe deposit box... all things of value they wouldn't want to have stolen. How is your private, personal network any different ? If you don't want people poking around your shared files and internet access, then put a freakin' lock on the thing.

I have no pity for people who fail at common sense. Just because it plugs in the wall doesn't give you an excuse to be stupid.

Re:news..

If you leave your front door unlocked, you're probably not standing on the porch yelling "Free house, come and get it!" and handing out name tags. If you do, then you can't turn around and claim the guests were trespassing.

A better analogy is that you buy a home, but the home builder doesn't tell you that there's an invisible man standing on the porch yelling to people to come on in in a voice too high pitched for you to hear, but that everyone else hears just fine. They put that information in the home's user manual, but hey, who reads those things. You just started using the home, and it kept the rain out, let you plug things in and use them, let you cook your dinner and watch your TV, so you assumed that everything was alright.

Bad analogy? Maybe, but if so, that's because analogies really don't work well in this case.

The argument against locking routers down by default, is that it's too complicated for the user. Bullshit! People use locks and keys all the time for their home, car, office, filing cabinet, safe deposit box... all things of value they wouldn't want to have stolen. How is your private, personal network any different ? If you don't want people poking around your shared files and internet access, then put a freakin' lock on the thing.

Doors and locks have been around for centuries. Ubiquitous computing in the home has been around for a little over a decade, and home networks for even less time. People may eventually get to the point where they can figure these things out, but for now, they're still mystified by the pretty colors on their screen.

I have no pity for people who fail at common sense.

The sad fact is that when many non-techie people start using computers, they simply freeze up. It's something so completely alien to them that they don't function well. Most people don't think about security anyway*, except that security which was explicitly drilled into their heads at a young age (lock the doors, keep your keys and wallet with you, don't leave your drink unattended at a restaurant or bar.) Why would you expect people to suddenly develop "common sense," as you put it, when presented with something alien, when they don't even use "common sense" to notice other insecure infrastructure that they aren't explicitly told about?

*Bruce Schneier recently wrote an article on just this topic--the security mindset isn't a part of most people's thinking. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/03/the_security_mi_1.html [schneier.com]

Re:news..

Why can't I use a negligible amount of bandwidth when you are not using it?

The same reason you can't use my car when I'm not using it. I pay for it and I don't want to share with strangers.

I've got a better reason; ISPs factor in the average bandwidth use when deciding prices. If 1/2 the bandwidth used by the average connection was stolen through WiFi the average person's internet bill would double, whether or not he had actually secured his connection.

Re:Bandwith is not a car

If I use your bandwidth when you are not, I cant see how that really affects you in any way.

And when my ISP cuts off my service because I've used too much bandwidth this month?

And when the government subpoenas me because someone on my account was browsing child porn sites?

And when the RIAA files suit against me for 'making available' copyrighted material (off of your laptop, of course)?

But if those moral blinders are working for you, hey... who am I to disagree?

Re:news..

Horseshit.

If I left my money, house, or girlfriend available on your property, I wouldn't really feel like I could complain if you helped yourself...That's what these people are doing. If I have a neighbor whose signal is strong enough to cause interference on my equipment, I feel no qualms about using his service.

If the WAP isn't even trivially secured, then that's an open invitation, same as having an FM radio signal crossing my property is an open invitation to monitor it. If you don't want other people to use it, don't leave it wide open.

Re:news..

Note to self:
Don't forget wallet at this persons house or let my girlfriend visit it alone.

:)

Can someone help

I am trying to connect to "Free Public Internet" but its not letting me.
Do I need a password?

Gotta Remember, They're Users

Had a lady bring her laptop into our computer repair shop. "I can't get the Internet any more."

After extensive questioning (using very small words), I determined:

Her expensive laptop worked fine.

Her TCP/IP settings, web browser, etc. all worked just fine.

The wireless components and setup worked just fine.

What was NOT working fine was her neighbor's wireless access point. Apparently that fine fellow had either turned it off, lost his own internet connection, encrypted his WAP, or whatever.

She never knew she was using his connection, connecting to his WAP. She thought that, since the stick-on on her laptop said it had wireless and could reach the internet .. that it was a godz-given fact that, anywhere she went, she'd have internet access.

"But it works on campus."

Sigh .. more explanations.

Half an hour of my life, gone. And I don't even want to think about the brain damage.

Re:Gotta Remember, They're Users

Everyone started out as a newbie.

Re:Gotta Remember, They're Users

Sadly only a handful ever progress past that point.

Re:Gotta Remember, They're Users

When I started to work at our Laptop shop, I wondered at all those signs "Microsoft Windows is not OFFICE" and "You need a connection to internet with a wireless router to connect to internet wirelessly."

It's half a year later and, yes, people are stupid.

And why is this bad?

When you set up your wireless network you can choose whether to allow open access or not. If the network's owner has specified that anyone can use it, why is it bad to do so? I have my wireless router at home set up for open access and it does me no harm if others use it for occasional web browsing. The only flaw is that many routers don't have a way to prioritize or cap usage so that my work isn't slowed down by other people's Bittorrenting.

Yes, it's sent unencrypted - just like network traffic over those old-fashioned things called wires. We all know to use https and ssh for secure connections anyway.

no differentiation- regular or intermittent?

This is a pretty inane study- there is a huge difference between occasionally looking for an open wireless when away from home to browse and using a neighbor's open wireless as your main pipe. And the comments about identity theft are ridiculous, as most sensible people adjust their browsing/net use when using unknown networks to reflect their uncertainty in its security.

Re:no differentiation- regular or intermittent?

And the comments about identity theft are ridiculous, as most sensible people adjust their browsing/net use when using unknown networks to reflect their uncertainty in its security.

Great, now how many internet users fall under the category of "sensible people"? Given the number of people I see on the internet that are unaware of simple things like when and if they will get that "tax rebate", I suspect the number that realize their vulnerability when borrowing someone else's connection to be rather low.

WTF?

Where exactly is this "considered an illegal act"?

How the hell do you "consider" something to be illegal? It either is, or isn't.

How the hell is 12% a "sizeable percentage"?

Someone's really trying hard to make an article out of nothing.

Re:WTF?

Someone's really trying hard to make an article out of nothing.

Just wait a while and the editors will make two.

Warned my neighbour

I came across an unsecured network with strong signal a while ago. Turned out to be someone across the street. They had 4 Windows systems attached, with C: drives shared, unprotected. I also found a shared printer on their network.

I warned them by printing a page on that shared printer, identifying myself and describing the problem. Next day the access point was secure..

In an apartment.

Living in an apartment, I was actually surprised with the opposite. It appears that there are 20 or so wireless networks with good signal strength in range, and I am in a corner of the building. However, there is not a single network that isn't using some form of encryption. I don't know if this is typical, but all the supposed luddites living in this building (a combination of college/university age couples and 50+ year old singles) have obviously figured their wireless routers out.

The other premise upon which people base a lot of paranoia regarding network and personal computer security is the assumption that they possess something worth stealing. There are many effective credit card fraud methods in use that don't require any sort of computer exploitation, but rather involve "social engineering." What other information does the average person have on his PC that is of value? Of course I would be disturbed if somebody managed to obtain my entire photograph library, but that is of so little value to somebody else, I doubt very much that any significant effort would be put towards obtaining it.