Business users wary about using WiFi hotspots on the move, research says

Over half of business travellers are concerned about WiFi security levels, according to new research.

Some 55 per cent of travellers are worried about data security when using public WiFi hotspots in airports, hotels, railway stations and coffee bars according to iBahn’s global survey of 150,000 mobile workers.

Thirty per cent of the respondents say the ‘hotspot’ element worries them, while a further 20 per cent said they were nervous about using an unfamiliar WiFi provider.

Despite fears, 68 per cent say they owned a WiFi-enabled device, which they use on secure wireless networks, while 21 per cent plan to buy one in the next year.

Research conducted by Gartner revealed that a sixth of business travellers in the US and UK out of the 2,000 surveyed didn’t use WiFi hot spots because they were worried about security.

It also found that five per cent in both countries said it is against company policy.

Gartner analyst Ian Keene, co-author of ‘Business Travellers Report have 'Mixed Feelings about WiFi,’ said usage is creeping up but security issues remain.

‘People are becoming more measured about security. There’s not so much of a blind panic. Companies are articulating a remote access strategy,’ he said.

‘They are aware of issues such as employees having PCs protected by firewalls and always using a VPN when connecting to the office. It needs to be corporate policy to manage employees remote access,’ he added.

However, Keene points out that some public access locations are badly configured so they block out VPNs.

‘It’s becoming less of a problem, but the main culprits in the past have been hotels where they layer their own applications on the network and don’t realise they are blocking VPNs, but customer complaints mean they’re improving,’ said Keene.