You are sitting at an airport doing some word processing on your computer. Just by chance, you check to see if there are any wireless networks in the area that are available. Perhaps there is a pay wireless connection that you can use to send and receive your e-mail. You are in luck. Your computer confirms that the airport has a 'free' wireless network available to travellers. You sign onto the network and send your e-mail. Since you have some time before your flight, you check your bank account online as well as download the latest transaction record for your credit cards. Wow, that is efficiency!!!

However, you have just been the victim of WiFi fraud. Wi Fi is a popular technology for a high speed wireless internet connections. Many public places have access to a WiFi network for use by their customers. However in the case of our hapless traveller, the WiFi network he logged onto was set up by a fraudster who was camping out at the airport. Our victim actually logged onto the criminals network to do all his transactions. All of his personal information was routed through the criminals computer where it was recorded.

How can you protect yourself from WiFi fraud.

1) Never connect to a wireless network that you are not sure about….even if it has a reassuring name.

2) Make sure your computer is not set up to automatically connect to any network it sees.

3) Ensure that any file sharing features of your computer are disabled when travelling and using wireless networks.

These are a few ways to protect yourself from WiFi fraud. If you have some other ideas, please let me know by posting them to my blog.

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