As free public Wi-Fi networks go live, one unlikely community will be waiting to log in: cyber criminals.

Municipal and public Wi-Fi networks could become a breeding ground for crooks looking to steal information from individual users and big companies alike.

Mischief makers won’t have to wait long. This month, search giant Google started testing its free wireless Internet service in Mountain View, California. That news comes as a number of cities including San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, and Toronto have announced plans to create municipal, or “muni,” Wi-Fi networks.


The free public networks will carpet cities with free Internet connectivity. By 2007, cities in the United States will spend $405.6 million on wireless networks, up from 76.5 million in 2005, according to projections by the research firm MuniWireless.


More at Red Herring Online