Smartphone and laptop users who connect to Wi-Fi in public 'risk having their credit card details stolen'

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• Hackers set up bogus Wi-Fi 'gateway' in public place and wait for people to unwittingly connect to it
  
• BT has known about vulnerability 'for years'

Hackers are setting up wireless Internet 'hotspots' in public places and then stealing personal information from smartphone and laptop users who unwittingly connect to them, it has been revealed.
Using a device which costs just 49 and free software downloaded online, scammers can gather victims' user names and passwords - and even their credit card details - via a bogus Wi-Fi 'gateway' which looks completely legitimate.
Worryingly, Britain's biggest provider of public Internet 'hotspots', British Telecom, is aware of this vulnerability - and has known about it for years.

Risk: Hackers can gather user names, passwords and even credit card details from laptop and smartphone users via a bogus Wi-Fi 'gateway' which looks completely legitimateIn an investigation in The Guardian, volunteers were used to test how easy it was to be duped into connecting to these Wi-Fi 'hotspots' - with worrying results.
After setting up the 'scam' at a train station, a security expert watched as laptop and smartphone users who got access to the unsafe Wi-Fi connection passed on their user names and passwords - none of which were stored by the investigators.
Another test invited people to enter their credit card details to pay for access to the public Internet connection.

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One smartphone user unknowingly passed on personal information while their device was in their pocket.A number of smartphones come with free access to BT's 2.5million 'Openzone' connections - available in railway stations and hotels across the country.
H! ackers c an label their Wi-Fi connection with whatever name they choose, so unwitting victims may think they are on a secure BT connection, when in fact all the personal information they are entering on their device is being passed straight onto someone else.Even information which is encrypted can be deciphered using freely available software.
A BT spokesperson told the Guardian: 'This hack is known as "Evil Twin" and has been known to the industry and others for some years.'
Last week, it emerged that users of iPhones were having their locations and movements secretly tracked and stored.
Researchers found that the Apple device saves the users latitude and longitude, along with a time and date stamp.
It then copies the data to the owners computer whenever the two are synchronised.
This means anyone who stole the phone or gained access to the computer it is paired with could build a detailed picture of the owners movements.

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Secret surveillance: Privacy concerns have also been raised about the locations of iPhone users being tracked and stored