When you use a Wi-Fi connection to access the Internet, the data you transmit flies through the air. This allows us to remain blissfully connected while wandering through the house with a laptop, in a hotel with a tablet or in a departure lounge with a smartphone, but it also comes with privacy and security risks.
While you surf, someone with the right software and equipment could snatch your private information from the airwaves, potentially reading e-mails to your boss or collecting the pictures you post to Facebook.
Security & Privacy
Keeping tabs on online threats.
And if left open, a stranger could potentially use your home Wi-Fi network to commit crimes. For instance, in March, an unsuspecting homeowner in Buffalo woke up to F.B.I. agents wielding assault weapons. They were looking for a child pornographer, who lived next door and had been using his neighbor’s network.
But you can use Wi-Fi securely. Here are tips from the industry group Wi-Fi Alliance on how to keep your data private and your home network creep-free.
Turn on the security that comes with your home router. Any Wi-Fi router bought in the last six years includes security technology called Wi-Fi Protected Access version two, or WPA2, which keeps information private and secure by strongly encrypting it while it travels. But you have to turn it on WPA2 to benefit from it.
Check your device manual for directions on how to activate this security technology. Newer devices typically make setup a simple matter, but if you’re having trouble you may be able to jump-start the process by pressing a button on your device marked by a symbol with two arrows that reads “Wi-Fi Protected Setup.” Make sure you’re using WPA2, and not WPA — and certainly not the ancient, 11-year-old WEP, which was broken by hackers long ago.
Set up a strong network password. WPA2 also allows you to control who connects to your home network by setting up a password. Wi-Fi Alliance recommends using a password that’s at least eight characters long and includes a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, along with a couple symbols or numbers. Avoid including your name, address, router brand name or dictionary words because they can make your password easy to guess or crack. If need be, write your complicated, impossible-to-remember password down and stash it in a locked drawer or somewhere else secure.
Use Web sites that encrypt your traffic. When using a Wi-Fi network, whether at home or in a hotel, café or any other public place, make sure that sensitive Web sites you use encrypt the data you send and receive. Encryption is occurring if you see HTTPS in the address bar, and almost universally occurs when you make a purchase on a shopping site, bank online or log into a Web-based e-mail service. In recent years some Web services, Google’s Gmail service, Microsoft’s Hotmail and Facebook among them, allow you to use HTTPS all the time to protect all your private communications from potential snoops nearby.
Don’t connect automatically to random Wi-Fi hotspots. It’s tempting to jump online using an open Wi-Fi network while you’re out and about. But not all of the 1.4 million public hotspots in the world are necessarily safe to use. While the chances are probably slim that you’ll connect to a rogue hotspot operated by someone nefarious, it’s wise to at least take the extra step of selecting which, if any, public network you access. While you’re looking at the list of available networks, try to stick to ones that use WPA2.
Use VPN technology to encrypt your activity. If you travel a lot and must transmit sensitive data over public Wi-Fi networks, it’s wise to use virtual private network software, which creates an encrypted tunnel for your data to flow through the Internet. Many large companies provide VPN technology to their employees and require them to use it while traveling to protect valuable corporate information. If your company does not provide you with a VPN, there are now a number of user-friendly and affordable consumer VPNs on the market.