Go pretty much anywhere and you'll find a free wireless internet hotspot.
They're in coffee shops, restaurants and even airports.
But if you're not careful, that free connection could end up costing you plenty.
Phoenix Sky Harbor is full of hustle and bustle but there are more planes and passengers traveling thru computers, thousands of bytes of information flying around on the free Wi-Fi.
“A couple of years ago we installed free Wi-Fi as one of the first airports in the world to do that for our passengers and everybody absolutely loves that and we are so thrilled to be able to bring that to our passengers,” said Ken Colburn.
But if passengers are not careful thier information could make an unexpected lay-over on someone else’s computer.
“However the bad guys are out there. They understand how this technology works and they will do the best they can to try to exploit this,” said Colburn.
Data Doctor Ken Colburn says airports, hotels, and coffee hotspots, are also hotspots for thieves.
Your first defense is to be aware. Low tech thieves will try to peek over your shoulder trying to see user names and passwords and you need to make sure they can't.
More deceptive however, “there is a common exploit called the man in the middle attack and that is where someone sets up a laptop in an airport or a public area and poses as if they were some free Wi-Fi connection and then they can watch thru what's called packet sniffers everything that is being done.“
Here is how to tell if that's happening.
“But you can see down here at the bottom there is one at the bottom called free public Wi-Fi and it has a different insignia, that is actually another computer pretending to be a Wi-Fi connection,” Colburn explained.
That icon is your clue showing a computer to computer connection.
“So you don't ever want to connect to anything that looks like another computer. You always want to be connected to something that looks like an antenna.”
Colburn says Windows Vista machines are set by default to ignore those connections, on XP, you can adjust it in your network settings.
“You can see by default that it is set up to any available network and it prefers access points which is why they are at the top of the list. You want to use infrastructure access points only,” said Colburn.
Another option the same protection big corporations use something called a VPN.
“Anyone that works for a big company they are required to use what is called VPN which is virtual private network which scrambles all the information that comes thru the Wi-Fi network, what have you. So if you are not part of a big corporation there are personal VPN programs that you can install.”
Other than that, you can use a wireless card, which is not free but secure. Finally, Colburn says always use a firewall and virus protection to make sure your information reaches its destination safely.
“Trying to steal your identity is not kids play it is organized crime and there are people who spend their entire day trying to exploit people who are unaware of how the internet works,” said Colburn.
