London businesses run increased threat of drive-by hacking

The practice of drive-by hacking, where individuals take advantage of unprotected Wi-Fi hot spots, is on the increase in the UK - with London businesses the worst hit.

Experts have blamed "pitifully slack" security for the continued rich pickings to be found on the streets of London. The practice of 'war chalking' has further increased the problem, with individuals marking exterior walls of buildings where there is unsecured bandwidth to be used.

Research into the use of wireless LANs, commissioned by RSA Security, has revealed the number of wireless networks deployed in businesses across London has grown 300 per cent in the past year.

However, security remains slack and companies failing to secure such networks are running the risk of, at best, losing bandwidth, and at worst, exposing sensitive company data.

Using a hand-held scanner, researchers were able to pick up information from corporate wireless networks by simply driving around the streets of London.

The research revealed 63 per cent of networks surveyed were using default configurations, clearly identifying the company owning the data and where it was coming from.

The latest technology also allows researchers to pinpoint exactly how many wireless network access points and wireless enabled laptops a business has.

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

Tim Pickard, strategic marketing director, RSA Security, said in a statement: "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.

"Management, CEOs and CIOs have to understand that any investments they have made in securing their infrastructure can be negated by the backdoor being opened through the introduction of wireless networks."