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General discussion

Open Wireless Access Points are they safe?

Mar 25, 2005 1:29PM PST

Hello All,

I do a bit of traveling and I'm always running into open access points. I'm always tempted on connecting to read my emails and surf the net; but is it safe?

Thanks...

Discussion is locked

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Safe? maybe...
Mar 25, 2005 2:42PM PST

Many people didn't know how to secure their wireless.. so your security is only as safe as joining someone network... they may see your pc and get inside .. atleast they will be able to browse your shared document folder...

But, since you are in the network.. you might get infected by their virus, if any..

But again, Many people purposedly looking for open wifi connection for free internet... (and that the first reason for securing your wifi connection)

So in my opinion.. protect your pc and use that free connection... Or don't use it if you think about some ethic... (its kind of stealing you know..)

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Ethics
Mar 26, 2005 7:15AM PST

Hello Melati,

I agree with you I don't think one should take advantage just because a person doesn't know how to configure a router. I was actually referring to access that's provided for free in the Hotels that I travel. Most of the time there will be a couple of access points available and I'm never sure of which one to choose. I always wonder if some one has setup a rouge access point and is sniffing all my traffic or worst sending my traffic to another server (Pharming stuff I've been hearing about) kind of stuff they use to do in the malls where they would place an ATM machine that doesn't work and it records all your pin and account numbers. I decided to use Zone Alarm to protect my machine from attackers comming into it, I'm still looking for something to protect me from the network.

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in your case, it just as secure as joining your
Mar 26, 2005 6:49PM PST

office network... only this time you have different people on the network... (visible or not)

Zone alarm is a good starting point... beside all those anti virus and anti adware/spyware.

But for sure you can not rely on the hotspot provider, for security... since they only provide the wifi connection and only securing their own system... (not yours)