Next time you’re out and about and want to connect to the Internet using one of those convenient Wi-Fi hot spots, maybe in the hotel you are staying at, the café you are hanging out in, at the airport waiting on a flight, or in fact any public area at all, you had better make sure that your laptop is fully protected.
Security experts at recent Black Hat and DefCon security conferences have confirmed that these Wi-Fi hot spots represent an open door for all would be hackers, and that these unwanted intruders are starting to take advantage.
You’re bound to be wondering why there is such a risk in public places. Well, apparently the reason is quite simply that the very large providers of Wi-Fi hot spots and hotels, airports and others with free Wi-Fi in public places don’t need data encryption facilities for information travelling wirelessly between the internet and your laptop.
If truth be told the majority of data transmitted through wireless internet connections are not encrypted, in fact 95% according to Rick Farina, security engineer for wireless security firm AirTight Networks.
T Mobile and AT & T, two of the largest wireless providers recommend that their customers download their free encryption software, however, if you don’t use any protection, either because you didn’t think there was a risk or that you might chance it anyway, think again.
“If you’re using Wi-Fi in a public place and you’re not getting hacked, it’s only because there’s nobody around bothering to do it,” says Robert Graham, CEO of consultancy Errata Security.
That’s quite a sobering thought. Yes we all know there are risks using Wi-Fi, we are hearing about it all the time. The problem is more about complacency. It’s scary to think that someone can be sitting nearby monitoring every single thing you are doing on the Net and you know nothing about it.
The problem is possibly much larger than what we could even imagine because there are no stats for how often this happens and no one has ever been in front of the courts for Wi-Fi hacking yet it is easy to do. Anyone can get hold of a Wi-Fi monitoring programme if they want to.
With thousands upon thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots located right across the country and a plethora of unprotected laptops to invade, it must be a hacker’s paradise out there.
Be warned.
