Naïve Security in a Wi-Fi World

Swanson, Colleen M.; Urner, Ruth; Lank, Edward

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-13446-3_3

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Swanson et al [37] offered another explanation. Their participants said they used public Wi-Fi because, despite awareness of certain risks, they did not believe the risks would be realised.…”

Section: B Factors Affecting a User's Decision To Use Public Wi-fimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study argued that users of public Wi-Fi networks were not aware of the risk [19]. Others show that users were aware of the risks but did not think the risks would be realised ( [30], [37], [21]). Sombatruang et al [33] did not statistically test this factor either and so we did and found that it did not significantly affect the decision-making.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The continued risks of unsecured public Wi-Fi and why users keep using it: Evidence from Japan

Sombatruang

Kadobayashi

Sasse

et al. 2018

2018 16th Annual Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST)

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Many people find public Wi-Fi networks convenient but these networks harbor security and privacy risks. As public knowledge of these risks becoming common, we investigated whether the risks were still at large and what factors influenced users to use the networks-being the first study to draw evidence from Japan. Adapting the methodology from a previous study in the UK, we first set up an experimental open public Wi-Fi network at 11 locations in downtown Nara and captured Internet traffic. From approximately 7.7 million packets captured from 196 unique mobile devices during a 150-hour experiment, we found private photos, emails, documents, and login credentials being transmitted in clear text without encryption-confirming that not only did many applications still fail to encrypt data-inmotion but also did many users continue to use unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. We then used a scenario-based survey to examine factors affecting the users' decision to use the networks. From 103 participants, we found that the desire to conserve mobile data-a form of resource preservation heuristic-instigated a risk-taking attitude and influenced participants, especially among those usually having a small monthly data plan, to use unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. Female and those having finish highschool only, were also more likely to use the networks.

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Section: B Factors Affecting a User's Decision To Use Public Wi-fimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The continued risks of unsecured public Wi-Fi and why users keep using it: Evidence from Japan

Sombatruang

Kadobayashi

Sasse

et al. 2018

2018 16th Annual Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A study from 2010 by Swanson et al [11] reported on the perception of privacy and security when using wireless networks for a group of 11 randomly selected persons. They show that users make security choices based on (often mistaken) analogies to the physical world, similar to what happens in naïve, or "folk" physics, and that this leads to users who are confident in their knowledge about security while making unsafe decisions.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insecure Network, Unknown Connection: Understanding Wi-Fi Privacy Assumptions of Mobile Device Users

et al. 2017

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Smartphones and other mobile devices have proliferated in the past five years. The expectation of mobile device users to always be online has led to Wi-Fi networks being offered by a variety of providers. Using these networks introduces multiple security risks. In this work, we assess to what extent the privacy stance of mobile device users corresponds with their actual behavior by conducting a study with 108 participants. Our methodology consists of monitoring Wi-Fi networks that the participants' devices connect to and the connections made by apps on these devices, for a period of 30 days. Afterwards, participants are surveyed about their awareness and privacy sensitiveness. We show that while a higher expertise in computer networks corresponds to more awareness about the connections made by apps, neither this expertise nor the actual privacy stance of the participant translates to better security habits. Moreover, participants in general were unaware about a significant part of connections made by apps on their devices, a matter that is worsened by the fact that one third of Wi-Fi networks that participants connect to do not have any security enabled. Based on our results, we provide recommendations to network providers, developers and users on how to improve Wi-Fi security for mobile devices.

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“…Many people use public Wi-Fi because it offers them utility. Swanson et al [38] found that -although users were aware of certain risks -they often do not believe the risk will be realised. Their study used a qualitative approach.…”

Section: Reasons For Using Public Wi-fimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study provides empirical evidence that a significant proportion of participants' decisions about whether or not to connect to insecure public Wi-Fi network, are inconsistent with expected utility theory. This is an original piece of research exploring an aspect of decision-making not previously explored in studies investigating the decision-making process for using public Wi-Fi ( [16], [17], [18], [22], [28], [38], [47]) or in more general studies of expected utility theory [46]. Our results are in line with behavioural economics literature which argues that expected utility theory is inconsistent with the styles of decision-making that people actually adopt in many real-life choice situations [25].…”

Section: Rationale For Using Public Wi-fimentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do people use unsecure public wi-fi?

Sombatruang

Sasse

Baddeley

2016

Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust

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Public Wi-Fi networks are now widely available in many countries. Though undoubtedly convenient, such networks have potential security and privacy risks. The aim of this study was to understand if people are aware of those risks, and-if so-why they decide to take them. We set up an experimental free Wi-Fi network at 14 locations in central London, UK, for a period of 150 hours, and people connected most often to use instant messaging, search engines, and social networks, and sensitive data (such as name, date of birth, and sexual orientation) were transmitted. We subsequently investigated people's risk awareness and risk behaviour through semi-structured interviews with 14 participants, and an online scenario-based survey with 102 participants. The majority of participants said they would use public Wi-Fi under circumstances where the risks taken are not consistent with maximising utility. Female participants rated the risks associated with public Wi-Fi use, more highly-and yet more females than males said they would use them to save their data plans. These findings align with insights from behavioural economics, specifically the insight that people can misjudge risky situations and do not make decisions consistent with expected utility theory. CCS Concepts • Security and privacy ➝ Network security ➝ Mobile and wireless security • Security and privacy ➝ Human and societal aspects of security and privacy ➝ Privacy protections

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Naïve Security in a Wi-Fi World

Cited by 7 publications

References 16 publications

The continued risks of unsecured public Wi-Fi and why users keep using it: Evidence from Japan

The continued risks of unsecured public Wi-Fi and why users keep using it: Evidence from Japan

Insecure Network, Unknown Connection: Understanding Wi-Fi Privacy Assumptions of Mobile Device Users

Why do people use unsecure public wi-fi?

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