European WLAN boom leaves security behind

WLAN use is booming and London is the European capital for the number of access points.

It has 1,078 access points, far ahead of its nearest rival, Paris, which has 261. Of Europe's financial centres, Frankfurt and Milan trail with 198 and 148 respectively.

But users are failing to pay attention to security, especially in Milan. And that is despite the fact that the Milanese have the highest proportion of networks using the new 802.11g spec, which is designed for higher speeds and more security.

According to research from RSA Security, one in three networks in Milan use the new standard but 72 per cent of the networks there do not use WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or other encryption to protect against hackers. And only two of Milan's 148 access points uses VPN (Virtual Private Network), a secure alternative to encryption.

London and Paris are the most security conscious. Paris leads on safety, with only 32 per cent of its 261 WLANs unprotected. London is just behind with 34 per cent and Frankfurt trails with 41 per cent.

But the use of VPNs is growing fast. In London, 19 per cent of unencrypted access points were using them, with 11 per cent in Frankfurt and 5 per cent in Paris.

Matthew Buckley, communications manager at RSA, said in a statement: "We have seen the WLAN debate gather pace in the UK and this certainly seems to have impacted the understanding [of security] among London businesses.

"However, the sheer volume of improperly configured networks across Europe is still concerning and is leaving hundreds of businesses wide open to hacking."

Large numbers of the networks seem to be simply put in place with no attention paid to a careful installation.

The survey found that nearly half of the networks in Milan still display default settings, as do a third of those in Frankfurt and a quarter of the networks in London.