Everyone does it.  You are traveling somewhere, or you just moved into a new area, or you are waiting at the coffee shop for your car to be fixed and you come across an unencrypted wireless network. Lots of businesses set up hotspots and maintain them for the very purpose of inviting people to use the internet while they are in the area.  Secure WiFi connections are not the biggest concern in their life.  Some people just forget to password protect their wireless router.  You need to satisfy an incredible urge to check to  see if you sold that last textbook so you go ahead and log onto it…just for a minute.

In most cases it may have been a little bit exciting to flirt with an unknown signal, your heart may have pounded just a little bit faster for a moment.  But your unsafe and unsecure wifi connection was otherwise very mundane and you didn’t do anything very adventuresome while furtively exchanging information.  It was quick, satisfying, and this time there were no lasting negative effects.

Risk of Not Using  a Secure Wifi Connection

You may already be aware of the need to safely surf the from a public wireless network.  There are significant risks involved if you don’t. Whoever has access to that network can gain access to your computer and any of the information that you send over the network. Another person with access to that network might be able to route your traffic through their computer and then through the network, called a man in the middle attack.  It is unsophisticated and