KASPERSKY LAB REPORTS LARGE
PROPORTION OF WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS
IN
UK
HOMES IS NOT SAFE FROM ATTACK
While more than half of respondents
have wireless Internet access in the home, over two thirds of these have not
taken steps to ensure adequate protection to prevent data theft and ID fraud,
or are unsure of the required precautions to take
Kaspersky Lab, a leading provider of security solutions that protect against
viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, crimeware, rootkits, phishing, hacker attacks
and spam, today reports that a large proportion of UK homes with wireless
Internet access do not have adequate protection. The results of the Kaspersky
Lab Wireless Internet Access Survey states that while 57% of
UK
homes are wireless enabled, only
35% of respondents have taken adequate measures to secure their wireless
router.
Senior Technology Consultant at Kaspersky Lab, David Emm comments, "You
would not leave your windows and doors unlocked when you go out for fear of
being burgled, but by failing to adequately protect yourself when using
wireless Internet access you are doing just that. An opportunist could
potentially intercept any data you send and receive, get access to your
wireless and hijack your Internet access."
Kaspersky Lab advises that there are five simple steps that can be taken to
secure the wireless router for worry-free home computing:
1. Change the administrator password for the
wireless router. Just 19% of respondents had taken this basic precaution,
despite the ease
at which a hacker is
able to find out the manufacturer's default password and use this to access the
wireless network.
2. Avoid using a password that can be
guessed easily.
3. Enable encryption: WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access) encryption is best, if the device supports it. If not WEP (Wired
Equivalent Privacy)
should be used. The
survey revealed that 11% had the preferred WPA, 18% had WEP, only 6% had
WPA2 and 22% did not know
what encryption
setting they had.
4. Switch off SSID (Service Set Identifier)
broadcasting. This prevents the wireless device announcing its presence to the
world. Only 4%
of respondents had SSID
switched off.
5.
Change the default SSID name of the device. It's easy for a hacker to find out
the manufacturer's default name and use this to locate
your wireless
network. Avoid using a name that can be guessed easily: follow the guidelines
provided in the section below on
choosing a
password.