'Two people cautioned over UK's first 'wi-fi' theft' - 18/04/2007
(Press Association 2007)

The above two persons were cautioned for dishonestly obtaining services under the new Fraud Act 2006 legislation. They were doing no more than parking their cars outside homes with insecure wireless broadband internet and accessing the internet for free via their laptops - it is that easy. In this instance, the two individuals were not identity thieves or paedophiles but naive individuals who didn't think they were doing much wrong.

Unfortunately the professional identify thieves or fraudsters will not be caught so easily and will have more sophisticated equipment to gain access through your wireless connection if it is insecure. Imagine doing your on-line banking with a thief watching and recording every key stroke and password you enter from outside. What other information could a thief gain from your hard drive? Frightening isn't it. Unfortunately this is reality not fiction. Identity thieves no longer need to trawl through rubbish bins to collect your sensitive data.

Have you thought how paedophiles will progress to downloading their child pornography now that they are aware their details will be passed to the authorities if they use their own internet service provider. It doesn’t take much imagination to realise that they will find someone with an insecure wi-fi network and download their material through that. The police will then ultimately be directed to your home to question you and search for relevant evidence. It will be nigh on impossible to prove you had no involvement.

We are currently undertaking security surveys using our specialised scanning equipment to identify homes with insecure systems and ensuring that they take the necessary action to prevent them from being breached.

Our Network Security manager Alan Edwards has been formally security checked by the Ministry of Defence Vetting Agency in order to be trusted with sensitive information in relation to a recent government contract.