How safe is New York City's free public Wi-Fi?

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Thirty-four million Americans - nearly 10 percent -- don't have basic broadband access to the Internet.

New York City wants to help change that by replacing old pay phones with hotspots. There are nearly three dozen already up and working, with the goal being more than 7,500 on the city streets in a few years. But the ambitious project is raising some security concerns, reports CBS News correspondent Don Dahler. These aren't your daddy's phone booths. In fact, they're replacing them. "Along with maps you have the internet you can browse the web and find use the information," said Colin O'Donnell, who helped design the system. "You can (also) make regular phone calls, talk as long as you want anywhere in the US." The kiosks also offer charging ports and there is even a 911 button for emergencies. At the Nervecenter in lower Manhattan, technicians remotely monitor usage. Designed for the rigors of city life, the 1,000-pound aluminum kiosks have been tested to withstand everything from bad weather to a parking accident, to dog urine. Other major cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco have tried and failed at public Wi-Fi because of lack of funding. LinkNYC's Dan Dotoroff believes New York City will succeed will succeed because it will benefit financially from ads on the kiosks' sides. "One of the beauties of this is that it is going to generate ultimately, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the city that it wouldn't have otherwise," Doctoroff said. The biggest issue with public Wi-Fi, especially at this scale, is security, but O'Donnell assures hackers won't get into the system.

"Because we're a public network, everyone has to have their own encryption key so they are all individually encrypted and it makes for a very secure and safe network," O'Donnell said. This means every time you go online, the system issues a digital key only your device can use. But there are still ways around encryption.

We asked cybersecurity expert Gary Miliefsky to show us just how easily hackers can set up a fake login page that looks like the real thing. "The first thing you see is an ad that is a spear phishing attack. They think they're connecting to LinkNYC wireless kiosk when in reality, they are connecting to a malicious sight and they don't know it and put in their credit card info and it goes to the hackers," Miliefsky said. Miliefsky said the best way to be safe is to never use public Wi-Fi for anything that involves personal information, credit cards or banking.

"There is always a give-and-take with convenience and security," Miliefsky said. "We as consumers always have to remain one step ahead of the threat." LinkNYC said it will be remotely monitoring any suspicious activity 24/7 and will not gather personal information for sale to third parties. Everyone who lives or eats within 150 feet of a kiosk will be able to access the free Wi-Fi as well.

 

Source with video: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-city-linknyc-free-wi-fi-hot-spot-security-concerns-hackers/