this guy is a Twat ,

I mean what a fucking dick making out stuff is dangerous , not letting the other woman speak , and not actually being realistic or clear.

What a fucking nob

Its not to hard to emgin that a noob who is used to using a laptop in Coffey shops or free open wifi that is 100% legit did not reolise the difference between that and using a open wifi at home.

Also he totally exaggerates the risks.

I am on the other side of the fence. I thought she was a dipshit and he was informative in a smirky " why the fuck did you phone in " sort of way. and then filled in three minutes going over basic internet security and got a plug for their sponsors in. A good five minute by his account I am sure.

westy you forced me to put a hiatus on my lurking.

He isn't over exaggerating the risk at all and really, why let the caller keep cutting into the response/information when she clearly has no clue. Also, Leo Laporte is a really friendly person. I don't think he comes off like a dick... it's just a really funny call. Someone calls in because their stolen wireless is gone... this is the kind of material for a prank call.

I don't think that it is "wrong" to use an open wireless network without permission. I would never do any sort of login over such a connection, but there are some things that aren't really a security issue that one could reasonably take a chance with.

It is wrong, as in incorrect, to assume that some open wireless connection that is available today will be there tomorrow. The person might move, change providers, turn on encryption -- anything. If that happens, you have absolutely no right to complain, at least not in any legal or otherwise official way. Your free lunch is just no longer free -- deal with it.

One thing you might consider: if you see an open wireless connection in your area, ask around to your neighbors about it. Tell them about the benefits of turning on security. Offer to show them how to turn on encryption, and offer to pay a portion of the bill if they would be willing to share the connection with you. If you don't NEED the full 3Mb/5Mb/10Mb/whatever, you can save a lot of the cost of getting a fast line by sharing a connection with people. This sort of arrangement does require a certain amount of trust between the people sharing the line, but it can get you good, fast, encrypted internet access for less money.

think of it this way... open wireless access is akin to letting random people borrow your car.

you don't know what they're going to use it for. they could be robbing a bank, carting dead hookers to the field, drug deals, going through your stuff, whatever... you're basically trusting that the people that use the car are going to do so for good purposes. picking up their kids from school, grocery shopping, running a quick errand, etc.
wifi is kind of the same in the fact that people could be using it to steal movies/music, access nefarious pictures/information, e-stalking, hacking into email/banking accounts, or they could be using it for banking, amazon, videosift, wikipedia... who knows. sure there's logs, but if you know how to access the logs, then you know how to protect yourself and probably aren't concerned with this anyway.

the point is you never know who could be doing what on your open, unprotected access point. if you're willing to fend off the MPAA/RIAA, CEOP, or even perhaps the local police/FBI then by all means, leave your access point wide open. WARdrivers will document your WAP and pirates/hackers/child-exploiters will love you for it.

read the instruction booklet that came with your router. 99% of the time the very first set of instructions after setting the thing up is how to change your admin password and enable encryption. Those instructions are there for a good reason.

I've sniffed on open wireless connections before. I've never done anything with information that's been revealed that way, but I've still looked out of curiosity. Except for this one situation...

This was this crazy girl who got hold of my friend's email account and proceeded to sabotage everything she could; everything from myspace to attempting to access her bank account. Crazy girl's father has ties with local politicians so the police wouldn't act. Once I was certain of crazy girl's identity I parked down the street from her house and harvested as much information and evidence as I could. After that I made sure she knew that someone else was playing her game and they were much better at it. She stopped all her shit after that.

It turned out she was harassing several girls, all of whom had dated her boyfriend at some point in the past.

Anyway, my point was that all the shit he talks about, while not really common, is not as uncommon as most people assume. Where I live, I'd say open wifi is probably not going to cause you any problems. If you're in a city, open wifi is a huge risk.

>> ^westy:
this guy is a Twat ,
I mean what a fucking dick making out stuff is dangerous , not letting the other woman speak , and not actually being realistic or clear.
What a fucking nob
Its not to hard to emgin that a noob who is used to using a laptop in Coffey shops or free open wifi that is 100% legit did not reolise the difference between that and using a open wifi at home.
Also he totally exaggerates the risks.

I just couldn't listen to the whole call. Too painful.

Leo is awesome. One of the nicest guys in tech support, and that's why he's got a bunch of shows and successful blogs and podcasts. He gives very good info, and everyone would do well to listen to him.

My biggest problem with him is that he is probably too nice. He spends a lot of time explaining basics and talking to noobs, which bores the hell out of me so I switch the channel. Like on this video.

>> ^xxovercastxx:
I've sniffed on open wireless connections before. I've never done anything with information that's been revealed that way, but I've still looked out of curiosity. Except for this one situation...
This was this crazy girl who got hold of my friend's email account and proceeded to sabotage everything she could; everything from myspace to attempting to access her bank account. Crazy girl's father has ties with local politicians so the police wouldn't act. Once I was certain of crazy girl's identity I parked down the street from her house and harvested as much information and evidence as I could. After that I made sure she knew that someone else was playing her game and they were much better at it. She stopped all her shit after that.
It turned out she was harassing several girls, all of whom had dated her boyfriend at some point in the past.
Anyway, my point was that all the shit he talks about, while not really common, is not as uncommon as most people assume. Where I live, I'd say open wifi is probably not going to cause you any problems. If you're in a city, open wifi is a huge risk.
>> ^westy:
this guy is a Twat ,
I mean what a fucking dick making out stuff is dangerous , not letting the other woman speak , and not actually being realistic or clear.
What a fucking nob
Its not to hard to emgin that a noob who is used to using a laptop in Coffey shops or free open wifi that is 100% legit did not reolise the difference between that and using a open wifi at home.
Also he totally exaggerates the risks.


I know most the risks and the reality of stuff happening I have done alot of network security and almost started a bissiness bassed around securing wifi,

The person at more risk is the guy with the open wifi and Evan then its not HUGE . sum one at random steeling internet from an open wifi is at minimal risk. the same sort of risk level as people who don't use a fire wall or old copies of windows. probably far less risk than sum one that downloads of dodgy sites , maby evan less risk than sum-one that downloaded pirate stuff regulary.


The issue i have is that leo's tone of voice and the way he interrupts what she is saying rather than just been clear and going over the facts.

for example using a pc without a fire wall is not advisable and opens you up to possable atack and varouse negative things.

but its not the case that if u don't have a fire wall your pc will catch on fire and you credit information will be stolen immediately.

Its just about been balanced and clearly explaing things.

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