Wireless networks at the mercy of hackers

Source: STUFF

Businesses in Wellington central are racing to install wireless local area networks - but many are being left open to hackers.

The networks, or Wlans, are taking off as businesses avoid the high cost of cabling up buildings for high-bandwidth data traffic, by instead using quickly deployed short-range wireless networks within the buildings.

A lecturer at Massey University's electrical engineering department, Stan Swan, says a lunchtime drive through the central city to the university's Mount Cook campus revealed dozens of wireless networks operating in the public 2.4MHz band, but between a third and a half had no encryption.