Phishing is reportedly rampant in some major cities of China, according to an information security consultant. (Photo : www.techhive.com)

Phishing among public WiFi accesses in China's major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have reportedly become prevalent, afflicting 8.5 percent of public WiFi connections, according to news outlet The Paper, citing the report of information security consultancy Rainraid on Tuesday, Nov. 3.




Rainraid recently released a report on security conditions of public WiFi connections in China's first-tier cities, based on a survey made on 68,043 WiFi connections which cover public areas such as airports, train stations, business hubs and public squares, among others.



According to the report, phishing WiFi connections is a scheme used by hackers to steal usernames and passwords, usually done by initiating malware attacks.



The Rainraid report also cited statistics from Forbes which showed that China now ranks fourth globally in terms of its numbers of WiFi hotspots, following the United States, the United Kingdom and France.



Statistics showed that public WiFi hotspot connections in China have exceeded 50 million by the end of 2014, registering an increase of more than 80 percent year-on-year.



The report added that with the increasing demand for public WiFi connections, mobile device users have to be cautious when connecting to automatically linked free WiFi connections, which may lead to leakage of their personal information.



The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), a global organization, said that Chinese phishers have targeted sites including popular online marketplaces such as Taobao and Alibaba as well as many Chinese banks. Last year, Chinese actress Tang Wei was swindled out of $34,692 (210,000 yuan) in a telecommunications scam.



In September this year, the U.S. complained of alleged phishing attacks on a U.S. government agency and a European media outlet.

