Public WI-Fi Hotspots – Some Important Facts

People can travel almost anywhere outside the home or office and encounter a Wi-fi hotspot – bookstores, restaurants, fast food eateries, hotels, airports, and even hospitals have these hotspots to allow customers to come in and use their computers to browse the internet. What are public Wi-Fi hotspots? They are simply sites that allow customers to access the internet over a wireless network that is set up in the facility. They use what is called “Wi-Fi” technology which allows the computer to access the network over a wireless high speed connection. It’s convenient, usually free, and customers can enjoy a hot cup of coffee or work on business spreadsheets at any of these facilities.Dangers of Connecting to a Public Wireless Hot Spot and Dangers of Free HotspotsThe old saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” is even true with “free internet”. Certainly the “cost” to access the “free wireless hotspot” may be zero, but with the dangers lurking nearby, in the long run there’s the possibility of down-the-road “cost” on these “free” sites. Some of the dangers that can cost consumers in the long run include: Data theft – Information theft is huge around the globe today because of these “free hotspots”. In fact some of these wireless hotspots are actually created by hackers and sold to legitimate businesses in order to get access to any information on the computer that is logged into the hotspot. Identity theft – Because everyone at the “free wireless hotspot” spot has the security key to access the “free hotspot”, it has become a favorite hangout of hackers all over the globe. These wireless networks are unsecured and it makes for easy prey to the hackers to get access to banking information, credit card information, passwords, and account numbers – whatever they are looking for to make some “free easy money” on someone else’s work. Viruses – Another major problem with these “free wi-fi” spots is that along with the security key comes the ability for viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or any other detrimental program from finding their way into the computer. These can create huge problems accessing data that is stored on the computer, and can even travel in e-mails and affect other people’s computers as well.How Personal VPN Service is the SolutionPublic wi-fi is convenient for the traveler, and for those who are frequently out of the office checking corporate e-mail accounts is handy, but with the potential security risks, these could be problematic.

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