FOI 353503
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 353503
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16th August 2024. Please find below the response to your request:
Could you please share information on the number of 'piggybacking' (establishing a wireless Internet connection by using another subscriber's wireless Internet access) offences recorded in the last five years (2018-23), broken down by the number of convictions each year?
Reply
|
Number of 'piggybacking' offences (unauthorised wireless Internet access) by Full Offence title |
Calendar Year |
|
Grand Total |
||||
|
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
||
|
Crime Investigation - Action fraud:- Call for Service |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
Crime Investigation - Action fraud:- NFIB Referral |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
Grand Total |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
Caveat:
NordVPN has given a definition of: "Piggybacking is a cybersecurity term for using a wireless network without the authorization of its administrators. If a Wi-Fi network has not been protected with a password, anyone who is physically within wireless range of the router can connect to it. Doing so without permission is called piggybacking."
Searches were completed for the following notifiable and non-notifiable Home Office offences of:
- Primary Offence Group – NFIB Fraud, Fraud and Forgery
- Incident Summary (matches pattern): Piggybacking; Internet Access, Wi-Fi Squatting, Wi-Fi Tailgating
After a manual review of the Incident Summery free text, only three crime offences were related to the request of piggybacking as unauthorised wireless Internet access.
There is no conviction data to provide.