Many of us have home networks using the most prevalent WiFi standards in use today for run-of-the-mill
consumers, 802.11b or 802.11g. I can, as I type this, "see" some of my neighbors unsecured WiFi networks as
clear as day. Three of them, to be exact - all completely unsecured and free for anyone to browse with just a little
know-how. How disturbing. This is serious!If you haven't already, turn on your WEP or WPA wireless router encryption and "hide" your SSID from broadcasting itself. Wow, that's a lot of acronyms. Even with these two main -- and often overlooked -- safeguards in place, your system may still be vulnerable to the overzealous hacker, but the chances are reduced drastically if you make it past these two checkpoints.
And then you read something like this.
1. Thanks for the information. My home WLAN is not broadcasting the SSID now. It is not needed at home.
I can see where it would be useful at a wi-fi hotspot
such as a coffee shop etc.
Posted at 8:58PM on Aug 5th 2006 by Bill Rains