Wireless Hotspot Security - Time To Smarten Up

To go to your local hotspot café, sit down with your trusty laptop, and incidentally, to a hearty dark roast coffee. After 30 minutes your e-mail, weather, and write your latest blog on MySpace, you decide to call it a day. It is not known, the man at the corner table, sipping the java is still and reading the newspaper, has just stolen your most recently typed user names and passwords, and got a kick from an angry email sent to your friend. Fortunately, he did itjust to see how easily it could happen, and decides to delete your personal data.

Cannot think this happens? Well think again. It happens, and it occurs more often then you think. We need to know more about the potential dangers that exist when using hotspots. This article will give you through the steps necessary to be so sure when accessing the local hotspots. Its time you streamline your laptop security and practice safe browsing habits. While it is very important that youFirewalls and antivirus programs, I want more than the less obvious steps you can take to focus protect yourself. Let's start with your laptops network settings. Many laptops are set up to search and connect to the nearest hotspot. While this option might seem convenient, it is not allow you to the hotspots in the application and decide whether they are legitimate surveillance.

Disabling this option will prevent the computer from logging on to a hotspot without your knowledge. To see howStart your laptop setup, click. Go to the Control Panel. Click Network and Internet Connections, then Network Connections. There you will see wireless network connection. Right click on the icon and click Properties. Click the Wireless Networks tab. At the bottom you see an Advanced tab, click on it. Finally, make sure, uncheck "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks." Once this is done, you now need to manually search and new access points,that's what we want.

Now make sure you know and look for the SSID to connect you. The SSID is the name of the network to access it. Hackers will often mimic as closely as possible to the original SSID name. It is also a good idea to turn off file sharing, especially if you do not use this feature. This will prevent someone other then yourself access to your files. Many web browsers today, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox built in safetyFeatures to warn you of suspicious and non-encrypted web pages.

Phishing, a form of identity theft that occurs when a malicious Web site legitimately acquire sensitive information such as passwords, bank account or credit card numbers, is about identity. Is one of the restriction on Firefox and Internet Explorer, try to warn you. Both browsers have built in phisihing detection. Unfortunately, these warnings are displayed on the top of the browser, are oftenignored or turned off completely, because the small inconveniences some believe that it requires.

In order to weather or your browser is not verify that protects you against phishing scams, first make sure that you have the latest version of the web browser of your choice. For Internet Explorer, open your browser and click Tools, Internet Options, click the Advanced tab. Scroll down to safety. Once there, look for phishing. Make sure to turn the automatic website checking is enabled. To check Phishing FilterFirefox click on the "Security" is displayed. On Windows and Linux, go to Tools, Options, then Security.

VPN or Virtual Private Networks are an excellent form of security for access to hotspots. Many companies, especially large companies offer their employees Virtual Private Network connections to the corporate network and the Internet. VPNs use encryption and other security methods to give wireless network users the same kind of privacy that wired networks typicallyhave.

Lets move on some things that you should be aware at all times. Before you enter personal information in the field of wireless hotspot, or anywhere on the Internet for that matter, make sure you look for the padlock icon in the browser. This lock means that the site uses SSL encryption and is safe to enter personal information. Most sites are "https" at the beginning of the Internet address. The "s" at the end points to a secure, encrypted site. What this meansThey will handle your personal information is encrypted, or encrypted once entered, and makes it nearly impossible to decipher for a hacker to them.

Another tip, although it is quite easy to be aware of your surroundings. You do not want someone looking over your shoulder while you surf the Internet, or by entering your e-mail password. Speaking of e-mail when checking your e-mail account at wireless hotspots, it is a good idea in the habit of using web-based email programs. Most seriousEnsure e-mail provider is SSL security to ensure your username and password, which you enter are encrypted and stored safely. By following these simple procedures, you will significantly increase your security and to prevent that your private data falling into the wrong hands.

kanzius machine plantronics bluetooth