You can access the Internet in many places these days. Restaurants, bookstores, coffeeshops and other businesses all offer wireless connections, hoping you'll camp out with your laptop and spend your money. Not that it's recommended, but you even can drive through many neighborhoods and connect to unsecured networks being used in homes.
But you should be careful when using free Internet connections, because you don't know if they're secure.
The Better Business Bureau says Wi-Fi hot spots are breeding grounds for hackers, so be careful.
The Federal Trade Commission offers tips on how to protect yourself:
• When using a Wi-Fi hotspot, only log in or send personal information to websites that you know are fully encrypted. The entire visit to each site should be encrypted from log-in until log-out. If you think you're logged in to an encrypted site but find yourself on an unencrypted page, log out right away.
• Don't stay permanently signed in to accounts. After using an account, log out.
• Don't use the same password on different websites. It could give someone who gains access to one account access to many accounts.
Many other suggestions are common sense, such as not leaving your computer unattended while you refill your coffee and not staying logged in for extended periods while you're not online. A key thing to look for is whether you need a password to log in. If you don't, that means the network isn't secure, the BBB says.
