Another Reason To Secure Your WiFi

Sounds crazy but in every presentation I do I stress the importance of making sure your wireless connection is secured to prevent sex offender neighbors or whackos parked in front of your home or business from surfing for child porn and downloading it to your PC or theirs via your internet connection.

The AP reports in Buffalo NY “Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of “pedophile!” and “pornographer!” stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn’t need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.”

Guys wireless got jacked by a child pornographer.

Once a predator uses your Internet connection to go to into the bowels of the web, your Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is connected to your ISP billing address, is now considered one that is owned by a criminal. If law enforcement happens to be chatting with that person, who’s using your Internet connection to trade lurid child porn, then someone may eventually knock on your door at 3 AM with a battering ram. Hackers can use a virus to crack your network and gain remote control access, and then store child porn on your hard drive.

This is the kind of “breach” that can cost you thousands in legal fees, your marriage, relationships, your job, and your standing in society.

Anyone using an open unsecured network risks exposing their data or having it used as a portal for committing crimes over the web. There are many ways  for a bad guy to see who’s connected on wireless and to gain access to their information.

When setting up a wireless router, there are two suggested security protocol options. WiFi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) which is a certification program that was created in response to several serious weaknesses researchers had found in the previous system, Wired Equivalent Privacy.

Follow your routers instructions to set up its security or find yourself a 14 year old to do it for you.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.