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Do you lurk in the shadows at night in your neighbourhood, looking for a neighbour who forgot to secure his Wi-Fi with a password? When times are rough and the need for internet is desperate, anything is possible.

At least the Wifi at the Wimpy or Mugg & Bean is free AND legal. But even this Wi-Fi might not be the best option.

Using Wi-Fi in itself isn’t the actual problem – it depends on what you do with it.

Public Wi-Fi hotspots are shared with other people. This means anyone, like you, with access to the same hot spot, can technically access your data and monitor your online activity

And you don’t need to be a hacker to be able to do this. Anyone with access to the right software, like Firesheep, can become an instant cybercriminal if he wants to.

In September 2014 Finn Steglich from German company SySS set up a test Wi-Fi access point in London’s financial district. The experiment was attempted to establish how many people would willingly connect to a completely insecure and unknown device. The results were unsettling.

Never conduct any bank transactions or financial business on an open Wi-Fi connection. Not even online shopping – even if you’re panicking you’ll miss Takelot’s daily deal.

Before you use any Wifi hotspot, make sure it’s the establishment’s official spot. cybercriminals set up Wifi hot spots with copies of Twitter, Facebook, etc. to encourage unsuspecting users to log on and thereby provide their login info. Using the same password for multiple websites makes it even easier for them to access other websites with more of your personal information.

There are ways to use Wifi without putting yourself at risk. Kaspersky has a few suggestions.

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Dwaal jy saans suutjies in jou buurt rond op soek na `n buurman wat vergeet het om `n wagwoord op sy Wi-Fi te sit? As die tye druk en `n mens desperaat is vir internet, is enigiets seker moontlik.

Ten minste is die Wi-Fi by die Wimpy of Mugg & Bean wettig EN gratis. Maar selfs hierdie Wi-Fi is nie noodwendig jou beste opsie nie.

Opsigself is die gebruik van Wi-Fi in openbare plekke nie `n probleem nie. Dit hang egter af wat jy op die internet doen.

Oop Wi-Fi-punte word gedeel met ander mense. Dit beteken dat enigiemand wat, soos jy, toegang tot die punt het,  jou sou data kan kry en jou aanlynaktiwiteite kan dophou.

En jy hoef nie `n slim kuberkraker te wees om toegang te bewerkstellig nie. Enigiemand met die regte sagteware, soos Firesheep, tot sy beskikking, kan ontaard in `n kuberkraker.

In September 2014 het Finn Steglich van die Duitse maatskappy SySS `n toets Wi-Fi-punt in Londen se finansiële distrik opgestel. Die doel van die eksperiment was om te bepaal hoeveel mense vrywillig sal verbind aan `n onbekende, onsekure internetkonneksie. Die resultate was kommerwekkend.

Moet onder geen omstandighede jou banksake oor `n oop Wi-Fi-konneksie doen nie. Ook nie aanlyn-inkopies nie, al is jy hoe bang jy mis Takealot se daily deal.

Voordat jy enige Wi-Fi-punt gebruik, maar seker dat dit die amptelike punt van die besigheid is. Kuberkrakers stel Wi-Fi-punte op met kopieë van webwerwe soos Twitter en Facebook bloot om internetgebruikers se aantekeninligting te bekom. As jy dieselfde wagwoord vir verskeie webwerwe gebruik, is dit net soveel makliker vir iemand om ook toegang tot meer belangrike inligting op ander webwerwe te kry.

Indien Wi-Fi jou enigste opsie is, is daar metodes om relatief veilig openbare Wi-Fi te kan gebruik. Lees gerus wat Kaspersky voorstel.

 

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2019 at 11:30 am and is filed under Connectivity, News, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.