Säkerhet i öppna WiFi-nätverk. En studie om hur användares medvetenhet om säkerhetsrisker vid interaktion med öppna WiFi-nätverk kan ökas
Public WiFi networks is one of the dominant technologies for users to get public internet access. The problem is that the networks are designed for accessability rather than security ? a problem users seldom are aware of. Users who carelessly access WiFi networks may reveal sensitive information which, among other things, can lead to an identity theft. Previous research suggests that users must be educated and informed about the risks they incur, but not how this should be done. Thus, we asked the question:"How can users? awareness of security threats in public WiFi networks be improved?"Based on previous research related to the technical and psychological aspects of the subject, relevant methods for data gathering were selected. Using a questionnaire we examined the users? knowledge and attitudes towards the problem area. Through an interview with a security expert we got an experts view on public WiFi security, as well as valuable advice on what to focus on in our study. Finally, a series of observations were made where we showed how easy it is to access the information sent over the networks. Since no information from the observations could be presented, due to the ethical and legal aspects, we chose to illustrate a case study, where we presented how usernames and passwords are sent in clear text format.As the area of the study was found to be very complex, we narrowed down our discussion to the area we thought to be the most relevant. Legally, our research method was found to be somewhat in a gray zone where multiple Swedish laws came in to play. However, we were able to determine that monitoring public WiFi networks is legal in Sweden. Our conclusion is based on previous research, which shows that there are many security risks involved in interactions with public WiFi networks and can be abused by an attacker even without extensive technical knowledge. By visualizing potential threats and force users to make active choices, their awareness could be increased when using public WiFi networks.Keywords: Public WiFi, WiFi security, riskperception, security threats