I am by no means a computer wizard, but I do enjoy sharing what I have learned when the opportunity presents itself. I thought a Tech Tip might be good blog material, and help others at the same time. If you ever have a question, I’ll do my best, if I don’t know the answer I’ll say. I will never be condescending due to a question, I dislike people like that, those technicians who feel superior to us mere computer using mortals.

I was enjoying myself reading on Views and Mews this morning, and noted that some might not know of the dangers of free public WiFi hot spots. Many places have them now, book-stores, coffee-shops, restaurants, doctors/hospitals buildings and many more.

Free Wi-Fi hot spots can save on data usage if you’re on a limited cell phone plan or afraid you may go over your data allowance. They are great for the tablet or laptop you may have with you that doesn’t contain cellular capability (connecting through your cell phone account). If you are going to take advantage of free WiFi, refrain from going to sensitive places such as your bank, utilities, pay-pal or email.

When using free WiFi access, these venues are many times not “secured” with encryption. You don’t even need a password to connect. Those that do use a password are marginally more secure, but I still would not trust my sensitive information on a pretty much open network. When you connect using an open network that doesn’t need a password, your passwords you type in, or that your browser types (auto-completes) for you are generally sent in “plain text”. This means some kid, or adult with a free program could listen in on your connection and actually see your passwords and record them for later use.

This practice of sniffing the airwaves at free hot-spots used to be very popular by criminals and geeks looking for a thrill, but has faded over the last few years thank goodness. With users being more security conscious these days, it isn’t worth the effort and time for the thrill seekers to do. Criminals however, will put forth the effort to cruise coffee shops and other venues to scan for passwords in the open.

Again, while it is not a popular method as it once was, I still would not tempt fate and connect to sensitive sites while using free public WiFi.

Comments/Questions Welcome,