Protect your personal information from War Drivers!

The overall convenience of wirelessly accessing the Internet has distracted most users from taking measures to protect themselves against potential digital threats.

Meanwhile, a new activity has taken form: War Driving. Participants find your wireless access point, share their results and plot the location on a map (it’s probably listed right now).

What if your network is not properly protected?

The direct meaning for you of a weakness in your network is that an intruder can, from several miles away, access your computer without you noticing. He will be able to:

• See passwords you type on your computer

• Use your Internet connection, making you liable for his unlawful acts

• Hacking into someone else's computer

• Downloading illegal mp3, movies, software

• Sending spam

• Connecting to the Internet for free

How do you protect yourself?

We at Your Computer's Doctor recommend that you use a professional to make your personal information safer. However, if you fully understand the following, and feel confident to do it yourself, here is what you need to do:

1. Change the default SSID

2. Enable the highest level of WEP / WPA encryption

3. Change the default login / password on the Access Point

4. Disable the SSID Broadcasting

5. Set up a MAC address authentication (ACL)

6. Turn off the DHCP

7. Change the subnet mask