IT security is so strict at this hospital that some doctors resort to using a neighboring house’s Wi-Fi to get on the internet:
This Blog recently talked to an information-technology director at a mid-size hospital who says that visitors, doctors, and even the IT department routinely log on to “Monkey Business,” the unsecured wireless network in the house behind the hospital. The hospital’s network only allows registered computers to connect to it, and for some reason it won’t let people access the hospital’s VPN. So anyone using their home laptop or a guest who needs to make a presentation just uses the neighbor’s network.
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In some states this could be construed as “electronic trespass.”
Could be a HIPAA violation if any patient information is stored on that computer, but sharing an insecure Wi-Fi connection in this manner is incredibly stupid.
There are only two reasons for an unsecured WI-FI site and neither bode well for this situation. 1. The person providing the site is hopeful of capturing information that can be interesting. The best case is that they are simply a dilletante (sp?) and the worst is that they are a potential criminal. 2. The person provisiding the site is too clueless to understand good security practices. This would imply (actually almost guarantee) that they may not be able to secure computers on their network properly. This would lead to situation #1 above pretty quickly and the probability of the intruder being criminal approach 1.
I think I will click-through and contact the hospital because this is a terrible, terrible situation. Besides having some economics expertise, (you can believe me or not) I am a data networking expert (not that you need to be an expert to be appalled at this situation). This practice should stop immediately.
After reading a comment on the site, I realize I did not address a third possibility that is likely, but I discounted. Someone feels that it is neighborly or civil to leave their network open. The problem with trusting that this is the case in any given situation is that you don’t know that to be the case so you are just taking your chances.
Now I do occassionally find myself in need and log on to an insecure site to check a phone number or address or send a quick email, but I never pull anything sensitive up like a bank account or my blogger password – I try for any access to be “read only”. If I send email then I change my password when I get home. Finally, I always feel a bit guilty afterwards, not for stealing bandwidth, but for taking the risk.
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