WiFi security

Many people don't pay attention to the fact that WiFi encryption can be broken by any hacker with a little sophistication. Besides having access to banking and private files, it is possible to use your IP address for illegal purposes, such as trafficking child pornography or drugs, or planning the next terrorist attack. Laptops are usually networked by WiFi. Fake public hot-spots are good ways to hack your lap-top. I just write about this stuff, so I would like to hear some input on security other than LAN lines.

 

YES I AGREE, even routers have now found to have weaknesses

 

Yes, people should be aware of the security risk when connecting to a free public WiFi. Someone could be monitoring all of your online activities and use your personal information for malicious actions.
As for routers weakness, the WEP encryption should not be used anymore, it is very easy to break. I still see some hotspots using this encryption though. WPA2 is the standard nowadays.

 

Great point Thomas. What should we be doing to protect ourselves? Are our home wifi connections safe or are they available to hackers as well? Are there certain things we should never store on our laptops like passwords, etc. or is there a safe place to keep those?

 

I agree that is why my wireless network is protected with a WPA encryption. It is not that easy to crack for most hackers. Maybe you can try and use it also. It is really easy to set it up.

 

I know my home wifi is encrypted but I'll have to double check to make sure it is a WPA encryption, rather than an a WEP encryption. Do most restaurants and public places only offer connection using a WEP encryption or is there any encryption protection at all?

 

I know that passwords are easy to get and all, but I change my password ever so often. Just for cases like this, better this way than all my money gone.

 

Wow yer I have always known that the passwords would do very little to stop someone from getting my information. But I always change my passwords to try to prevent people from getting too much information but after having read this I think I will have to do more research into possible ways to protect yourself against these types of poeple.

 

I was aware of some of these issues, but not all of them? How can you tell a fake hot spot from a real one?

 

Well, its a rising problem. WPA encryption doesn't protect your laptop. If you're on a public wifi, you're unsafe, even if its a genuine hotspot. For a hacker, step 1 is to crack the wifi password and gain access to the network, step 2 is to hack into one of the systems on the wifi network, for which unfortunately free tools are available online that even a 4 year old could use.

IF folks here remember, someone actually stole airmiles from people's accounts at the airport because they were connected to the airport's wifi. It made the news too in Oct 2014. Now United Airlines even pays hackers to report any vulnerabilities in their system, but WIFI related hacks are not part of that program specifically because WIFIs are easy to hack into and are not really the airlines' problem. Check out: http://www.dennisnadeaucomplaint.co...r-one-million-air-miles-in-bug-bounty-reward/

For those who want to protect themselves, might I suggest: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2925636/security/how-to-stop-wi-fi-hackers-cold.html