Wi-Fi 'Piggybacking' Is Becoming Socially Acceptable

A New York Times article suggests that more and more people are connecting to the unprotected wireless networks of strangers and neighbors, a practice known as "piggybacking". It is certainly less ominous for someone to simply share your bandwidth than to actually access your personal computer and private information, and depending on who you ask the jury seems to still be out on whether or not it qualifies as "theft", but it is still using resources which someone else is paying for. Just sitting in my home office, using my own wireless network, I can "see" three other nearby wireless networks. They are all insecure and open for me to connect to if I choose. And, while the concept of "piggybacking" is somewhat benign, a device that attaches to your wireless router and shares your network with you is much more capable of accessing your computer and performing other more malicious actions as well. I recommend that you read my Wireless Network Security for the Home article or take my Free Wi-Fi Security 101 Course to learn more about protecting your wireless network. You can also use a product like McAfee Wireless Home Network Security 2006 to help automate the process.