Wi-Fi Adoption and Security in Hong Kong

Abstract

The benefit of using WiFi for Internet connection is obvious: cost-effective and powerful. WiFi gives us the flexibility and convenience of not being tied to a fixed location. Nowadays, more and more electronic devices and gadgets, such as mobile phones, cameras, gaming devices, TV and entertainment equipment, are WiFi enabled. WiFi also enables your devices to share files instantly. WiFi broadcasting devices, such as Chromecast, give you extra convenience by allowing you to stream video and audio contents from your mobile phone to your TV using WiFi connection. However, this kind of flexibility and convenience comes with a cost. Sharing files, streaming contents or even accessing the Internet via WiFi means signals are being transmitted and they can be captured by anyone with a computer or mobile phone installed with appropriate software. Therefore, it is important to let WiFi users know their security risks and how to minimize them. Educating WiFi users to reduce the WiFi security risk is one of our on-going missions. Basing on empirically collected data, this paper is report of a comprehensive study on the use of WiFi and WiFi networking and the knowledge of WiFi users of the risks and security issues involved in using WiFi in Hong Kong. Findings of the study highlight the WiFi security knowledge gaps of the users in Hong Kong so that stakeholders can take action to improve Internet security by eliminating the security gaps identified.

Identification of Patterns in the Use of Wired Equivalent Privacy (Wep) as a Security Protocol in Wi-Fi Networks.

“…In the city of Rabat, the capital of Morocco, it was identi ed, among other aspects, that 10% of Wi-Fi networks used WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) as a network security protocol (Sebbar et al 2016). A Similar percentage to the identi ed in Hong Kong, where it was observed that about 7% of the analyzed networks used the same security protocol (Fong and Wong 2016).…”

Evolution and Impact of Wi-Fi Technology and Applications: A Historical Perspective

“…In the last few decades, as we were witnessing the emergence of the "information age" and the third industrial revolution, wireless access and localization played an undisputable role by enabling millions of innovative and popular cyberspace applications to connect to the Internet by anyone, anywhere 1 . These cyberspace applications have had and continue to make a fundamental impact on the way we live, conduct business, shop, access news media, deliver education, transport, care for health, and interact with the world.…”

“…In addition to smartphones, many other devices like home entertainment systems, environmental monitoring sensors, and security systems connect to the Internet with Wi-Fi, but not necessarily through cellular networks. Wi-Fi brings people, processes, data, and devices, together and turns data into valuable information that makes life better and business thrive [1]. Some companies engaged in Wi-Fi related business resort to artistic illustrations similar to Fig.…”