wi-fi security

If you're willing to put up with some ads, Hotspot Shield VPN is a free app that aims to make your Wi-Fi connections secure and protect your privacy while online.

The interface is clean and simple, and aside from a few options, there's not much for you to do. Hotspot Shield VPN is basically ready to go as soon as you open it. It's capable of optimizing data flow, providing you with a little more mileage when using 3G or 4G networks (depending on your unit), and further encrypts your sent data so that info and messages … Read more

Researchers have released two tools that can be used to exploit a vulnerability in a protocol that makes it easier to set up secure home Wi-Fi networks.

Stefan Viehbock, who first reported the vulnerability to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, released a tool that can crack a home Wi-Fi network in two hours. And Craig Heffner of Tactical Network Solutions, who had been working independently on figuring out the same vulnerability that Viebock reported to US-CERT, has also developed a tool that will allow hackers to gain access to some secure Wi-Fi networks in four to 10 hours. … Read more

Among Wi-Fi users, there's a big gap between knowing about Wi-Fi security and keeping their network and devices secure, as revealed by the Wi-Fi Security Barometer Survey results that the Wi-Fi Alliance announced today.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, the survey, conducted by Wakefield Research in August, randomly asked 1,000 participants age 18 or older around the country about their knowledge of Wi-Fi security. Around 97 percent of the interviewees said they thought that data on their devices and networks was "safe and secure." However, when asked which of several recommended steps they have actually taken to protect their Wi-Fi networks or devices, respondents received an overall score of just 66 percent. This means that in practice, users were actually not as safe as they could be.

The good news is, according to the survey, most users (about 86 percent of those surveyed) have taken basic steps to ensure the privacy and security of their Wi-Fi network by enabling security protections on their access point or router. However, only 59 percent have implemented wireless passwords or encryption methods that meet the basic criteria for strength and privacy. This means that there is a large number of people who have been using Wi-Fi with a false sense of security. … Read more

The bottom line: The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks.

Review: The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks, but it's also an excellent tool for ensuring on any network connection that you can access sites … Read more

No matter how great a keyboard artist you may be, the odds are that you hate joining secure Wi-Fi networks on your Android device. Passwords are a serious (but necessary) pain, but a new, free app called Wifi Joiner lets you easily set up scannable QR codes to let other Wifi Joiner users share your network. Here's how to get started:

Install and run Wifi Joiner.

Initially, your camera will open up with a message directing you to scan a QR code. In the future, you can just scan to join a network, but we want to set one … Read more

In this last wrap-up post for Speeds and Feeds, I address what may be the most important issue in the future of personal computing architecture: consistent data access across multiple platforms.

Perhaps it's my multi-platform background, but I've never demanded or expected consistency in form factors, user interfaces or even capabilities. Variety in these areas is great; it's what makes the personal computing market so big. Variety is also why I keep so many PCs and consumer electronic devices around (see photo); I like knowing I have the right tools for many different jobs.

On the other … Read more

I could write a whole blog about correcting computer articles in newspapers, pointing out mistakes and omissions. Many times I have corrected and expanded on articles in the Wall Street Journal by Walter Mossberg, but I've also griped about mistakes in the other newspaper I read regularly, my hometown New York Times. Back in May, on my previous blog, my comments on an article that David Pogue wrote in the Times about data cartridges for backing up computer files prompted a surprising rebuttal from Mr. Pogue.

Beats me why major newspapers don't hire computer techies to write about … Read more

A Michigan man who used a coffee shop's unsecured Wi-Fi to check his e-mail from his car could have faced up to five years in prison, according to local TV station WOOD. But it seems few in the village of Sparta, Mich., were aware that using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection without the owner's permission--a practice known as piggybacking--was a felony.

Each day around lunch time, Sam Peterson would drive to the Union Street Cafe, park his car and--without actually entering the coffee shop--check his e-mail and surf the Net. His ritual raised the suspicions of Police Chief Andrew … Read more