Just How Risky Are Public Wi-Fi Hotspots?

what?

Why would you be so stupid as to tell people not to take simple steps to secure thier information? Either your a friggin moron or your one of these people that make thier living by stealing from everyone else! I would imagine that you'd be the one telling everyone that they don't need to lock thier doors or have alarm systems at home, just before you break into thier house! It you had listened to the story, they were not trying to sell anything! They said "password protect your wireless" and or make sure you don't put personal information in email, etc from public access sites. They even went so far as to tell you how to password protect your older wireless units that didn't already have password setup built into the unit. So, shut up! Your comment was really stupid!

20 years of computing and you think "anti-virus software is a joke and is most likely the makers of most of the "virus's" that are out there." ? What about the people that have been arrested for these crimes?

what's with the bar chart for the coffee shop question? looks like someone needs to go back to web design class.

When my husband and I travel, we never use a public WiFi spot. Instead, we drive through a residential area and find a home that has WiFi with no password protection. There is a good free program which will display hot spots called "Network Stumbler". It displays their WiFi name and a small icon of a lock if it is protected. Many people broadcasting WiFi do not even password protect their router, enabling anyone to get into their complete network if someone desired to do so.

I like how the security "expert" is still using IE6 in 2009.

I guaranty this was endorsed by internet providers. They don't want anyone stealing their neighbors internet. A good hacker can get right past a simple password.

Alice,
What you just described is Illegal! $10,000 fine and 6+months in jail. Our neighbor was able to identify a car that was parked in front of his house....the kids were using his WIFI. Cops came confiscated the computer and later a judge found them guilty. $2000 fine and 1 year probation. You might want to rethink "free wifi" in the future. Stealing is Stealing!

do you idiots think that this guy is going to break the law on tv???? The USA has an open air act which means if you broadcast it wirelessly you are responsible to secure it, anybody has the right to anything wireless, free satellite TV is completely legal if you know how to get it........

holy stupid, people believe a pay for isp like aol when it tells them wifi is dangerous, then when there is an ad link to norton software after they tell you antivirus's are a must, and you believe them there too!! keep it up stupid people, antivirus's will bring more headaches and slow your pc more than virus's do, people keep buying them! dont get the free ones cause they must not work, and dont forget that norton has a machine that can see into the future and protect you from viruses as soon as they come out< or is that impossible? oh yeah it isnt. basically it is impossible to protect you from a virus being released today, do virus makers have anything to gain? or do virus protection programs have everything to gain, when paid for news tells you about a virus?

d1ncharge1, I totally agree. AOL is the worst when it comes to the "click on this link after we have instilled fear in you". certainly AOL is getting paid every time that someone clicks their links. How can AOL survive now that it does not cost $20 for their service. Either it's magic or they are selling you something. I really hate Corporate America. Yep, the virus protection programs really screw a computer up, very true. Interestingly. the radar detector and radar gun industry is exactly the same. They come up with new radar systems to obsolete the old detectors. It's the same company developing both technologies.

"i think this is surprising a lot of people"

Matt, if this surrpises you, then you are as naieve as the people you report about.

I work tech support for several different types of connection. Most people don't see how important wireless security is. And we see a lot of people that assume they're safe just because they're in a rural area and they don't usually see cars driving around. Unfortunately this isn't the case. There are simple devices you can make off of the internet out of a soup can and a little wiring that will allow someone to pick up wireless networks from 3-5 miles away. Even farther if they put a little more effort into it.
One thing the article didn't go into regarding wireless security is that there's more at stake than the security of your computer. Not everyone that logs onto someone else's wifi is a hacker trying to get into their personal information. Sometimes they're just kids trying to download music or watch movies on the internet. The problem with this case is that some ISPs have bandwidth limits and you can be penalized if you go over these. It's a good idea if you have a wireless connection to check to see if you have a bandwidth threshold. Other people getting on your connection can use up this threshold and there can be penalties from your ISP (extra charges, service slowed down, or even losing your service altogether).

I am very insulted by this article. Wardriving has nothing to do with "drive around neighborhoods looking for open Wi-Fi networks to steal data from" Maybe more research needs to be done before posting "news" articles like this.

There are more security games in town besides WEP and WPA. There are also numerous ways of filtering your network traffic, like IP and MAC address filters

This is why I am glad I live in The woods, trees all around and my WIFI can't be picked up unless someone is sitting in my driveway, and if someone is stupid enough to pull and park in my drive way, hack my internet, they will be meeting the end of a shot gun barrel. Cause they will be trespassing on private property and illegally using my internet. No one screws with my family.