Socio-technical study on the effect of trust and context when choosing WiFi names

Abstract

We study trust and context as factors influencing how people choose wireless network names. Our approach imagines the mindset of a hypothetical attacker whose goal is to ensnare unsuspecting victims into accessing dishonest WiFi access points. For this purpose, we conducted an online survey. We used two separate forms. The first form asked a random group of participants to rate a list of wireless names according to their preferences (some real and others purposely made-up) and afterwards with implied trust in mind. The second form was designed to assess the effect of context and it asked a different set of respondents to rate the same list of wireless names in relation to four different contexts. Our results provide some evidence confirming the idea that trust and context can be exploited by an attacker by purposely, or strategically, naming WiFi access points with reference to trust or within certain contexts. We suggest, in certain cases, possible defence strategies. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.