Listened to the news lately? Malcolm Riddell was a tech-savvy guy who lived on the 12th floor of a building where most of his neighbors were retired seniors. He figured he didn't need a password on his wireless router. But after an unexpected visit from the FBI, he changed his mind. Malcolm’s unprotected WIFI (wireless router) was being used by a person to collect and solicit child pornography.
If your Internet connection speed suddenly slows down or you’re constantly losing your connection, it's possible that someone has hijacked your wireless router. First, you have to be using a wireless router (something that get’s you on the internet WITHOUT a wired connection). Wireless is like when you go to Starbuck’s or stay at a hotel and they say FREE WIFI. Which means you can use your laptop or smart phone or iPad to connect to the Internet for free without using a wired connection. When you use free WIFI, some you merely click and wa-la! You’re connected! Hotels don’t like to share their WIFI, so you’re generally going to be issued a password and put in the code before it works.
Nonetheless, if you buy one of these cool little gadgets for your home; even it merely allows you to sit in your lounge chair in front of your flat-screen and play solitaire while watching CSI, or use your printer in your bedroom while sitting at the kitchen table, you have a WIFI connection. If you never needed a password to initiate this connection, your WIFI is NOT PASSWORDED. And I say, “what are you thinking?!”
Yes, we live in a world where passwords are really taking over our lives, with our ATMs codes, logins to social networks, logins to our online banking, our favorite online shopping, and on and on. Encyption/pass words for your home or business WIFI is a precaution you should take if you have not done so at this time. After creating a password, write it down, use it to connect to your devices, store it in the memory. Store the password in a safe place if you need to retrieve and the, forget it. It’s that simple.
Do it.
..unless you’re lonely and would welcome a knock at your door from the FBI.
-peace.
Posts
