Identity Theft and Free Public Wi-Fi -- Beware
Free Public Wi-Fi -- What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft
What do free public Wi-Fi and identity theft have in common? A lot! Once thought a harmless activity, surfing the Internet and checking your email in your favorite coffee shop, turns out to be dangerous to your personal information and security. Learn how to prevent identity theft while surfing in public.
Identity theft and free public Wi-Fi
Got some time to spare? Pop into your favorite coffee shop kick back, relax, and catch up on email. Sounds good -- doesn't it? Turns out it sounds very good to all those identity thieves lurking out there too.
Here's what happens. You sit down and start searching for a Wi-Fi connection. Your computer searches and brings back a list of possible connections. One of these says, "Free public Wi-Fi." Now, if you use a Mac, you are in the clear. Macs will not automatically connect to these networks and even if you do, you have to set up a network specifically for this purpose.
On the other hand, if you use Windows XP or Vista, you may run into some problems. What's happening when you see the "free public Wi-Fi" connection is the computer connects to another PC -- not the Internet. Chances are, the owner doesn't even know you're connecting to his Wi-Fi connection.
If you aren't connecting with malicious intent, and the Wi-Fi owner you're connected to isn't set up for malicious intent, everything appears good. Good at least until later down the road. Once you connect to this network, your computer will always connect making itself and all of your personal records available to whomever connects to that same network.
Fortunately, Windows does have a way to avoid identity theft through these connections. Visit the Microsoft site and search network connections. They provide step-by-step instructions explaining how to protect yourself from these free public Wi-Fi connections, avoiding identity theft in the meantime.
You can find a lot more about how to be safe on public Wi-Fi here.