Dangers of Wireless

I was talking [virtually] with Pat over the weekend and she shared this blog post…
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Interesting article from the New York Times online –  Technology section (you may have to register free in order to read it):

"Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless"
By Michel Marriott -- Published: March 5, 2006

The article talks about the proliferation of home wireless networks, the common practice of "piggybacking" and the lack of security being applied to those home networks.

I'm not a techie and I don't know enough technical details about wireless to try it or to set up a secure wireless network that I feel I can trust. Similarly, I am wary of using wireless in public places like airports and in fact have not activated the wireless facility on my laptop.

Some of my friendly security experts say "no problem if you do it right" and others say "no way, I'm not using myself’.

There are some good recommendations in the article, but I would like to hear from you:

-What are your experiences and recommendations?
-Can anyone convince me to go ahead and use wireless, especially in my own home?
-If so, what is "doing it right"?
-How can you confirm that your wireless setup is in fact secure, your firewall is working, and is continuing to protect you?

Pat Gaudet
Director, CIPS Toronto
Director, CIPS National
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Pat, it's an interesting article and those are good questions to our audience...

Thank you,
Stephen Ibaraki