BT Open Zone... Great Idea?

Safe WIFI Zones all over the UK....

This is probably going to turn into the biggest blog we've ever done, and only because we care!  BT Open Zone and BT WIFI Hotspots are becoming more and more frequent.  If you haven't noticed, then why not get your laptop and scan for WIFI hotspots, I guarantee that your sure to find one.  So its a great idea, right?

Look closer, you'll notice that theres no security key.  Your machine hops on wirelessly and effortlessly to the Open Zone. So if you can, then what stops everyone else doing it? Well, BT do have restrictions to prevent you accessing the 'Internet' without being a BT customer but so what? Your device is still connected to a wifi device without your permission and who else is on the device?

My concern is that if my laptop is connected to a WIFI device in a public place, I could be at risk.  Associate security consultants have confirmed that this is the case.  It's nothing far short of a place where you can be openly attacked and not even know it!

Those of you who know me, know I wouldn't take this lying down so I called BT. I know, I should know better. Since 1st of June 2011 our company has phoned BT 78 times and spoke to many representatives on the subject from BT Home, BT Business, BT Customer Services and even BT Wholesale who apparently install these WIFI zones. Not one person at BT could help, had any concerns or wanted to take any responsibility and help.  As a result, this has now become a government issue because BT is our biggest supplier of broadband and WIFI which is now a security risk, UK WIDE!

On a normal day, my Apple Mac sits 6ft away from our providers router.  So wireless strength is not a problem.  However, each and every time we boot up the MAC, we end up conected to the BT Open Zone WIFI.  The Open Zone signal is so strong that your device will always take the strongest signal first and this as I said previously has no security key to access it!

Convinced? Read this...  A security consultant attended a local Open Zone WIFI zone with me.  Upon accessing the zone, he was able to find 28 nodes (devices like, laptops etc).  He explained that with the right type of hacking equipment which is easily available on the web, he could hack into the nodes there and then! Upon doing so, showed me.  This is no joke.

Our next step is to create and formulate the evidence which will be presented to the local MP at his surgery.  The evidence will be compelling enough to force the enquiry into the House of Lords and hopefully pull the CEO Mr Ian Livingstone of BT business development, and Mr Jeff Kelly CEO of BT Global Services to task and force an investigation.

Watch this space as we update our case data.