According to researchers in Indiana University, the citywide Wi-Fi connections across the US have opened many opportunities for hackers. They believe that new threats launched could potentially piggyback on the networks and spread across thousands of systems.

If their predictions hold true, the hack would probably be something simple. The attacker would simply install new firmware on the cracked network. This firmware would then attack other networks from its host, similar to a typical internet worm.

The main reason for this assumption is the fact that administrator passwords were far too easy to guess. The researchers have estimated that about 36 percent of all passwords could be guessed.