Naïve security in a Wi-Fi world

Abstract

Despite nearly ubiquitous access to wireless networks, many users still engage in risky behaviors, make bad choices, or are seemingly indifferent to the concerns that security and privacy researchers work diligently to address. At present, research on user attitudes toward security and privacy on public Wi-Fi networks is rare. This paper explores Wi-Fi security and privacy by analyzing users’ current actions and reluctance to change. Through interviews and concrete demonstrations of vulnerability, we show that users make security choices based on (often mistaken) analogy to the physical world. Moreover, despite increased awareness of vulnerability, users remain ingenuous, failing to develop a realistic view of risk. We argue that our data present a picture of users engaged in a form of naïve security. We believe our results will be beneficial to researchers in the area of security-tool design, in particular with respect to better informing user choices.