Yahoo’s Tech Blog has a good reminder for those who are traveling over the summer, “Beware the phony Wi-Fi hotspot”.
You might want to wait until you’re at home to do things like give credit card numbers online or other personal information, because it’s quite possible you’re using a Wi-Fi hotspot set up by a hacker, who can steal your information with internet speed.
According to Yahoo and Fox News these networks called “Evil Twins” have already become rather commonplace, causing the creation of the term “vacation hacking”, which is apparently the newest trend in the world of cyber fraud.
Here are some more cool terms: “white hat” and “black hat” hackers. We’re sure you can tell which are the good guys. In 2008, a Silicon Valley company called AirTight Networks went to airports around the world with white hats to see how big the problem was and foil unsuspecting black hatters.
After checking 27 airports, (20 in the U.S., five in Asia and two in Europe), AirTight found it was a pervasive problem, with people using insecure Wi-Fi to check their e-mail, do their banking, or even buy stock. These are generally not the type of thing you ought to be doing on public Wi-Fi, unless of course, you don’t care if you’re sharing your personal information with those who might use it for evil.
So, to align yourself on the side of good, be sure to:
• save important documents for secure and private networks,
• use official access keys provided by the hotel, airport or other location,
• keep your security software current and active,
• always assume Wi-Fi connections are being eavesdropped upon and never enter Social Security numbers, bank account information, etc. when using an unknown Wi-Fi network.
Tags: Internet Speed, Wi-Fi