You may have heard the term hot spot or WiFi hot spots. If you’re not familiar with what this is, it’s a way of allowing you to be connected to the Internet from a remote location outside of your house. These are perfect for laptop users so that they can access their e-mail, Internet or anything online and can do it anywhere there is a WiFi hot spot. Most airports, some restaurants and coffee shops and many hotels offer this service; sometimes at no charge. However, if you utilize this service you want to be sure you are safe from prying eyes and hackers.
On an unsecured wireless network anyone that knows what they are doing can look into your personal information and potentially steal your identity or cause other harm. It is important to do a few things to be sure you are secure.
Turn off your wireless card when you are not using it so that your laptop does not automatically connect to the Internet. Not only will this keep you safer, it also saves on valuable battery time and will extend the use of your laptop before you have to charge it again.
If you do connect to a hot spot, don’t use file sharing software like Ares or even email to share sensitive information that can be used against you. Private information like banking or credit card information is perfect for hackers to tap into and retrieve so wait until you are in a more secure location to perform these tasks if possible.
Be sure if you do use a WiFi hot spot that any file sharing programs are disabled and that your antivirus programs are up to date and secure. This is because a hacker can have spyware embedded that will track you even after you leave and your antivirus software can protect against this malicious spyware so that you don’t have to worry about threats at a later time.