The media has given increasing coverage to Wi-Fi theft and the practice of wardriving (I love the new terms the Internet is spawning!). In fact, some states and jurisdictions are readying legislation to make wardriving and Wi-Fi theft a crime.

Despite all this attention to home-based Wi-Fi, one of the greatest threats to our security on the Internet is the public, free Wi-Fi hotspots (the FBI recently published a warning about this on their website).


We all use them, we all trust them, but few of us think about how insecure these hotspots are. And now, many communities are going to citywide free Wi-Fi. How long before we hear of a criminal organization that specializes in capturing our private information from these Wi-Fi public access points?

According to the market research organization Gartner Group, only 30% of us use the encryption keys on our home wireless systems. Did you install yours? Even when we do use them, there are serious questions about their effectiveness.

Fortunately, the range of home hotspots is only about 300 feet, thereby limiting access to only those hackers who are in close proximity to our home, but coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, airports and many others still offer free unimpeded access to their Wi-Fi without a key. The reality is nearly any 14-year-old can download a packet sniffer and begin to intercept your traffic at these hot spots.

The company that can come up with a way to encrypt our information when it leaves our computer at these public hot spots should be immediately rewarded with a big "hurrah" and our business.

Check out our reviews of Internet Security Suites.

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