While I was imaging a laptop in the office today I noticed a connection named “Free Public Wifi” on the Windows Wireless Network Connection screen. I found this quite odd for a few reasons…
- It was a PC to PC connection
- My office building is by an airport in the middle of nowhere
- We have only two wireless connections in our building
Being the nosy person that I am, I thought I’d google to see if this is something others have seen. Imagine my (lack of) surprise… it’s a scam! It seems people are sitting around at airports and using this “free” wifi connection to get into your system… nice.
A quick snippet from the article:
The next time you’re at an airport looking for a wireless hot spot, and you see one called “Free Wi-Fi” or a similar name, beware — you may end up being victimized by the latest hot-spot scam hitting airports across the country.
You could end up being the target of a “man in the middle” attack, in which a hacker is able to steal the information you send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords. And you could also have your files and identity stolen, end up with a spyware-infested PC and have your PC turned into a spam-spewing zombie. The attack could even leave your laptop open to hackers every time you turn it on, by allowing anyone to connect to it without your knowledge.
If you’re a Windows Vista user, you’re especially susceptible to this attack because of the difficulty in identifying it when using Vista. In this article, you’ll learn how the attack works and how to keep yourself safe from it if you use Windows XP or Vista.
You can read the article here: Don’t fall victim to the ‘Free Wi-Fi’ scam @Computerworld
