Article: Security scare for business laptops

Security and privacy go hand in hand. While this article, Security Scare for Business Laptops, primarily deals with confidential business information, the principles also hold true for personal information that an organization is obliged to safeguard under PIPEDA's dictates. Insufficiently secured Wi-Fi can be a significant vulnerability for any computer user and computer network.

The Financial Times: Security Scare for Business Laptops

Business travellers are unwittingly making company secrets available to rivals by ignoring the risks of local wireless networks, known as wi-fi hotspots, security experts warn.

IT security experts who have carried out checks at hotels, railway stations and other public places equipped with wireless internet access technology have found the networks and users' computers are often insecure. "It's actually happening: there is competitive intelligence being gathered," said Richard Hollis, chief executive of Orthus, a security firm.

Hackers - who need little specialist knowledge - can access contents of a rival's laptop because other users' files are visible to anybody using an unsecured wireless network. Hackers are also using wi-fi hotspots to store their files on other computers.