Wi-Fi commuter fears

Wi-Fi on UK trains could leave commuters vulnerable to hackers.

Next year free Wi-Fi will be rolled out across a number of rail operators, fruits from a £50m Department for Transport’s (DfT) scheme to increase Wi-Fi on trains. The technology creates a means for commuters to make more productive use of their journey to and from work.

A Freedom of Information request to the DfT from Intel Security discovered that funding is not conditional on establishing a security policy to guard against hacking attacks. The DfT is limiting itself to offering cyber security guidelines rather than making them mandatory for rail operators.

Commuters and other travellers ought to use VPN technology when accessing the net in order to guard against a variety of well-known risks, Intel Security advises. ®