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Cafes and Hotspots are great conveniences but how do they affect your internet privacy and security?As more and more access is made available, your internet privacy and security is more at risk. Internet cafes, public computers, rent-by-the- hour computers, computer labs, your friend's computer, hotel and airport wireless access points, and Wi-Fi hotspots can all seem innocuous but there are real dangers to be feared. Threats to your internet privacy and security come from using public or easily accessible computers and include all types of malware such as keystroke loggers, spyware, viruses, worms and trojans. If you use an infected public computer to check your bank account, keystroke loggers will capture your ID and password and put you at risk for identity theft or at the very least an empty bank account. If you send email from one of those infected public systems, malware can attach itself to the email and infect everyone you send the email to - including yourself if you open it up later on your system at home. And malware can become attached to an Office document you create on one of those public systems which, again, can infect your system or another's when opened up later either through your email or off your flash drive. Evil Twin: This is a fake wireless access point that is made to look like a legitimate one. Once connected, your internet privacy and security is breached because the connection allows hackers to watch your online activities, steal your personal data, your passwords or drop off a not-so-friendly virus. This evil twin wireless network appears on your "available wireless networks" list and can have a very official sounding name or a name similar to what you would expect like "tmobile hotspot" or "verizon wi-fi" or even "starbucks free wi-fi". Upon connecting to these evil twin sites a popup window may appear requesting your credit card number. If this happens to you, disconnect immediately. If you entered your credit card number, call your credit card issuer immediately and close the account. Man in the middle: This threat is where a hacker allows you to use a legitimate internet connection but can intercept all messages between you and another party (say, a website you visit) and then retransmit those messages, making it look like you and the other party still appear to be communicating with each other. The attack may be used to gain access to the message, or to be able to modify the message before retransmitting it. The messages of course can contain any personal or sensitive data you are sending or retrieving on the internet. This threat erases any sense of internet privacy and security you thought you had. Unfortunately, nothing is fool-proof, but here are some steps you can take to lessen your risk. 1. Don't type passwords on to computers you do not control. 2. Don't enter private or sensitive information into a public computer. It may get stored in the cache and the next person may access it. 3. Don't leave the computer unattended with private or sensitive information displayed on the screen. 4. Watch out for "shoulder-surfers" - those who may be sneaking a peek at what you're doing. 5. Don't save login information (uncheck "remember me" boxes). 6. Completely log out of any site you're logged into. Closing the browser is not enough. 7. If you must use a pubic computer to access personal or sensitive information, get and run
X-Cleaner
on the computer you are using - you can do a scan for malware on the system you're using without installing the program. Cool huh? 1. Don't access anything personal or anything you don't want the world to know about. 2. If you are using Windows Firewall (which you shouldn't be, you should be using an effective one like ZoneAlarm ), uncheck Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop. You can do this through the Windows Firewall's "exceptions" tab accessed through the Control Panel on your computer. 3. Uncheck File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks. You can do this through the Network Connection section that is within the Control Panel which is accessible from the start button on your desktop. Once there, right click on your "wireless network connection" icon, then select properties, then uncheck file and print sharing. 4. Get protection software such as
Anonymous Surfing
or
Ghost Surf
which protects you by rerouting your internet traffic through their secure servers thereby bypassing fake hotspots.
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