Over 16,000 people joined this seasons DefCon 20 meeting in Las Las vegas, NV. Defcon is the biggest cyberpunk meeting where countless numbers and countless numbers pc techies spend an extended few days in the summer's heat training, learning, testing, and working together on the latest methods of coughing computers, mobile phone devices and even bank cards.
1. Community Wi-Fi is Dangerous.
First, know this: NOTHING is safe on a public Wi-Fi system. This means anything that you do online at A coffee house, the airport or at your accommodation can be intercepted by online hackers with comparative convenience. Second, only do what you would not mind having someone else see. Starting an Email from grandmother should be fine, probably surfing around the web too, but anything that requires a login name, financial data, individual details, or a data is a big red banner and best left for a properly secured private system. Windows Windows vista and 7 now display a warning message if you get connected to an unsecured system, but for Windows XP and Mac OS X, you can tell if a system is properly secured by the little 'lock' symbol next to the system name when linking.
1. Community Wi-Fi is Dangerous.
First, know this: NOTHING is safe on a public Wi-Fi system. This means anything that you do online at A coffee house, the airport or at your accommodation can be intercepted by online hackers with comparative convenience. Second, only do what you would not mind having someone else see. Starting an Email from grandmother should be fine, probably surfing around the web too, but anything that requires a login name, financial data, individual details, or a data is a big red banner and best left for a properly secured private system. Windows Windows vista and 7 now display a warning message if you get connected to an unsecured system, but for Windows XP and Mac OS X, you can tell if a system is properly secured by the little 'lock' symbol next to the system name when linking.