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Beware freeloaders: 1 in 4 WiFi hotspots exposed to hacking

  • tourists are most vulnerable to cyber crime due to use of free wi-fi.
  • Two third of the hotspots use wi-fi protected access (WPA) protocols based encryption.
1 in 4 WiFi hotspots unsafe

 

Kaspersky Lab analysed more than 31 million Wi-Fi hotspots across the world and found that 28% hotspots meaning every one in four hotspots are unsafe and exposed to hacking. 
 

In simple words, data transmitted using these networks that include passwords, messages, documents of users can be easily intercepted and misused by hackers. 

 

Kaspersky found that one in four Wi-Fi does not use any encryption or password enable protection of any sort, making the users' data vulnerable to any cyber attack or crime. 

 

Apart from this, another 3% of the wi-fi hotspots use wired equivalent privacy (WEP) to encrypt data which can be cracked easily by using various online tools available for free. 

 

Rest two third of the hotspots use wi-fi protected access (WPA) protocols based encryption which is more reliable. 

 

Interestingly, the top 20 countries that have the most number of non-encrypted wi-fi hotspots includes some of the popular tourist destinations and tourists are most vulnerable to cyber crime. 

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