Safe Tips for Wireless Surfing

Did you know that laptops are now outselling desktop computers? And did you also know that the number of free wireless Internet access locations is also growing? And that people with laptops and desktop computers are using wireless routers in their homes? Putting these three facts together, it means that more and more folks find themselves at coffee shops and other free Wi-Fi locales with their laptops so they can surf the net while sipping their latte. Or if they are at home and their wireless router is active, it means that other folks that are nearby with a wireless laptop can also use their router.

If you are one of those folks (I know I am), you could find yourself at risk if you don't take some simple precautions. Here are a few things you should know before using Wi-Fi publicly or privately:

1. Practice Safe Computing. Most security experts are on record saying that slight behavior modifications in public places is most important. The surfing you do online in a public wireless environment should not be what you surf at home on a much more secured wired connection. For example, don't check your bank balance online, despite what that Bank of America ad says, or type in your credit card to order flowers online while sitting in an Internet cafe.
2. Disable the Windows Automatic Network Connecting Feature. Don't let your laptop connect just anywhere. To do so, right-click your current wireless network connection, click Properties, then click the Wireless Networks tab. Here you'll see a box with all of the last known connections you've made. After each, if it says "automatic," highlight and click properties, then select the connection tab for that network. Uncheck the box labeled "Connect when this network is in range." The downside is that the next time you fire up your laptop, you won't be connected right away. Instead, you should see a list of available wireless networks. It'll cost you a few seconds to choose one and connect to the right network, but at least you'll know what you're connecting to.
3. Use a Wireless Broadband Card. Rather than use a public cafe's open wireless, get a wireless broadband account and use your laptop to connect to Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T via cell modem. Overall wireless broadband accounts are more secure (it's harder to hack into a cellular call) and, in some cases, more reliable than public 802.11 wireless.
4. Change Your Home of Office Wireless Router Name. This tip applies when you are using your laptop (or any computer for that matter) wirelessly at home. Change the router's name and login passwords via the router's firmware (usually this requires typing a specific address into a browser's address bar), then change the default SSID (used by Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, or the like) to something original (for example, Farfarout, or something similar). While you're at it, change the router's default admin ID and password, and enable some form of encryption (WEP, WPA, or WPA2).
5. Shutdown Wireless at Home if You Don't Use it. Most routers today come with a wireless option. I have wire/wireless routers both at home and at the studio. Since I never use wireless at the office and almost never at home, I have shut down both routers' wireless features so that only computers connected via a Cat5 wire connection can get on the net. It's a simple matter to turn them back on if I need to.
6. Disable Ad Hoc Connections. This is a connection that allows you to connect with other computers on the same wireless network. It was meant to be for businesses who employees need to be connected with each other as well as the wireless network. But, if an attacker wanted to snare other wireless users, he could deliberately set up an ad hoc network in a public space, then listen in (or sniff, as its called) on wireless traffic. To disable ad hoc settings in Windows XP SP2, to go the Control Panel, click Network Connection, then Wireless Network Connection, right-click Properties, click the Advanced tab, then deselect "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection."

Just give a little thought about what you are doing when working wirelessly and you will probably be just fine. My thanks to Robert Vamosi at Cnet for his help with these tips.