amma

Let's keep this topic's tone as upbeat as possible please... I just wanted to pass this on, as many of us have and do use WiFi in various public places.

I was just watching a news show, and they were telling the public about a new program that intercepts information from your computer when using any unsecured internet provider.

This mainly refers to using public WiFi access in places like bookstores, cafes, anywhere that lets you use it for free.
It doesn't matter if they give you a password. Chances are there are many, many others who have been given this password too...
The person sitting next to you could be sharing your computer and you wouldn't know it, until something bad happens... You may not know it until later that day, or a few days later.

If you have wireless in your home, and haven't password protected it, you are at risk too.

This program is free... and available to anyone...

This program literally lets anyone gain access to your computer while you are surfing the net on a unsecured network. The only sites they can't intercept are ones where the url starts with https: These sites use an encryption program that blocks this hacker program.
For those of you who do not know what a url is, look at the top of your screen, in the address bar is the url. here it is http:// quiltingboard.com

I am NOT saying our board is not safe, I am just using this sites url as an example :D:D:D

I would think that this may be how so many email accounts have been hacked into, as well as the problems many have had with their facebook and other accounts as well.

Here is the news story in written form as well as a video clip of a reporter using the program at a coffee shop, hacking into customers facebook accounts... it also further explains how this hacker program works.

http://www.komonews.com/news/tech/107360348.html

Quiltforme

Very good information it is very easy to set the security on your wireless router in home I see all the time my neighbors who are online with no security for their system. Thank you Amma for posting this!

cjomomma

My WiFi is set private with a password but about 6 of my neighbors don't have a password for theirs and I can connect to them, which my comp does from time to time.

Windwalker

There are people who drive neighborhoods with laptops looking for unsecured wifi.Sometimes a simple precaution is all it takes.

ptquilts

Can't understand why you would have an unsecured wireless network in your home, it is so easy to have it encrypted.

lab fairy

I'm guilty of an unsecured WIFI on one network server in my home and a secure WIFI for the other. We had so many computers in and out of the house during that period of time (kids and their friends, students, etc.). If you give out your password to the secure one, you might as well give it out to them all. Now I am down to the secure WIFI with firewalls for my firewalls.

amma

I understand completely... I know if I had teens at home, the WiFi would be shared too...

Maybe do a quick change of password while they are around, and be cautious of where you go online while they are using it? Then change the password back when they are gone?

pookie ookie

Safety is illusion. Nothing is ever safe.

lab fairy

Trust me, running two separate networks was easier than trying to change passwords every hour. My house was grand central for a long time. I had one network with virtually nothing except the access to the WIFI. The other was secure.

Now, I've shipped off my children to Universities and reclaimed my cyberspace. I'm down to one very secure server. It is amazing how much cooler the house stays when there isn't 5-10 computers running at the same time. :roll: I tell my son that my electric bill cut in half when he moved to Lubbock. Kids and their electronics.

lab fairy

I agree with you.