Why do people use unsecure public wi-fi?

Abstract

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

How Do Public Perceptions Affect the Security of Connected Places? A Systematic Literature Review

“…Taher et al [28] suggest students' privacy concerns in 'smart campus buildings' are influenced by their experiences and knowledge in other computing contexts, and that similar consent controls would be desirable. Other authors commented on the influence of the personal experience of cyberattack in cyberspace, as opposed to in a (a) cyber-physical environment (connected place [28]); (b) demographic differences (age, gender [18,29]); and (c) pre-existing awareness of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and controls [26]. However, none of these findings are comprehensively investigated enough to draw any applicable conclusions from.…”

“…A university-based study by Papic et al [34] found that 43% of 110 students at Osijek University, Croatia never felt safe when using public Wi-Fi. The manner in which devices remember and automatically reconnect to Wi-Fi may present vulnerabilities to outsider attacks [25], with user behavior being key in addressing this weak link in connected place infrastructure, especially when users frequently misjudge the risky situations in the wild [29]. Willemsen and Cadee [30], writing about the arguably more security-critical environment of an airport, argue for limiting the possibility for the public to access networks in connected places, both through reducing access points and by separating public networks from internal networks.…”

Attributes affecting user decision to adopt a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app

“…More concerning is that 80% of these participants also admitted having used public Wi-Fi for email and online banking [28]. As the use of public Wi-Fi and cyber risks continues to grow [25,6,27,26,7,1,5], understanding factors affecting the decisions to adopt a VPN app is key to identifying suitable strategies to promote its uses.…”

La seguridad de las redes WI-FI en el entorno universitario.

“…These days in the modern world of technologies, the issue of the security of the Wi-Fi networks is dealt with by a large number of scientific and professional theses and articles (Cheng, 2013;Sombatruang at al., 2016;Bednarczyk, 2016). Their authors are most frequently concerned with the security of the public Wi-Fi networks, e.g., Anastasia, A.V., at al.…”