Last week our protagonist was in a coffee bar on public wi-fi surrounded by criminal hackers. They were closing in and things were looking grim. OK so maybe it’s not that bad but the risk is certainly real. And as casual use of public wifi increases so will incidents of information and identity theft. In the virtual world as in the real world using a few simple strategies can make a big difference. Most criminals are creatures of opportunity and take the easiest targets first. Turning off sharing, turning on your firewall and using Stealth Mode, using https whenever possible, and not doing anything important on the web will go a long way towards your being left alone as too much trouble compared to other easy pickings. Like the old joke goes, you don’t have to outrun the bear chasing you…you only have to outrun the person next to you.
