Regularly in this country someone discovers that their money or identity has been stolen - even wired from their online bank account to an account in Pakistan. This is now a relatively frequent occurrence and the subject of widespread and constant analysis and concern. While most people lose money by very skilled online banking hackers, many people have great losses because they failed to perform relatively simple things that could have made it almost impossible for hackers to get their identity.
Many Americans in high-tech or corporate careers are also very heavy users of technology-assisted devices - intelligent devices - that support our access to the internet and therefore the world. While we all enjoy - and often depend on - such access, data and security loss via this kind of usage can be totally and financially devastating.
Police authorities in major cities now have sites like Starbucks or other Wi-Fi “hotspots” regularly patrolled by car to identify those serious hackers - who sit in parked cars within the Wi-Fi access loop - just waiting for the unsuspecting Wi-Fi and Smart Phone User to enter security or password information - even on free email sites.
So, what can the average Wi-Fi User do to protect themselves, other than to stop using such facilities? The answer is relatively simple and, for the most part, works very well for most of us. Here are the best and easiest to implement precautionary changes you can make in your usage of Wi-Fi facilities.
1. Concentrate your Wi-Fi usage to secure connections with 802.1X authentication and WPA/WPA2-Enterprise encryption to secure Wi-Fi networks like T-Mobile, iBahn, and iPass. Other networks - especially free ones - have no real encryption and, therefore, expose users to an ocean of real-time in-the-air access to their data.
2. Change your usage of email accounts to that of a Smart email user by only using SSL-encrypted networks. Default browser controls in Yahoo and Google mail now provide this security and, if you are a heavy user of secure email transitions you should consider connecting to a VPN server to secure your traffic from local eavesdropping.
3. Avoid ALL usage of clear-text protocols and services. Many people do not even know what this means. What we are referring to here it the avoidance of entering ID’s and Passwords in what is called clear-text - not unlike the AsciiText in MS Word - that make it remarkable open to real time air-snatch access. All of the well-encrypted protocols - like custom-private, IMAP and POP3 - are examples of protocols that are impossible for hackers to sieve.
4. Keep a clean and updated Windows System Registry. Commercially available registry software will allow you to perform the necessary registry fix operations and you can achieve the necessary Registry Repair.
Author Resource:
Author Resource:-> James Roberts is Senior Article Editor for What-Why-How researching and writing on numerous topics including how to use registry software and best ways to do registry repair that work fast!