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When it comes to the 802.11 standard (WiFi), there are two types of security, which can be deployed on the wireless network. The most common and least secure method is Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and the much more secure Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). It is important to note: Independent research conducted by wifi.com staff indicates better than 50% of home-based wireless networks and 40% of wifi hotspot providers do not deploy security measures.
For home-based and most other consumer-grade wireless networks, security is controlled at the access point or router. The current security settings on wifi-capable access points are; none, WEP, WPA, and WPA2. The key difference between WPA and WPA2 is the latter applies an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which has been adopted by the U.S. government.
In general WEP security will keep the average person from using your network. However, in August of 2001 a published article explained how the WEP encryption can be attacked and the passkey recovered in about 10 minutes time. Thus, if someone really wants in, they can gain access to the network and ultimately, your computer.
When securing a home network, wifi.com recommends using the WPA2 (AES) option. With the adoption of the next 802.11 standard (802.11n) the creation of a secure environment using WPA2 (AES) will become easier for the end user.
The Wall Street Journal published a write up warning users to be careful when accessing WiFi from an hotel room.
The hotel room scenario is a particularly tempting one which many of us can probably relate to. After the trip you arrive at your hotel room and want to check your email. Open up the laptop and see that there are a few wireless network, first you may try the one that has the hotel name just to realize that they want you to pay 30$ to connect, so you move to the next best alternative that seems to be open and hopefully free. Indeed you got a break and the network is open! Unfortunately the guy running the network is next door and he is now sniffing all your traffc looking for something interesting to steal.
The article suggests a few alternatives to protect yourself, unfortunately some of such solutions are not practical (using your work VPN for personal stuff may not be allowed) or they require extra costs.
These are exactly the type of problems that have motivated us to start wifi.com. We want to make sure that you can get free wifi access. We want to make sure that your experience is secure.
