Protecting yourself on Wi-Fi

Are you just Handing your Password out?

     This module in my Principals of Computer Security course we have started to work on our team projects. This project is for an organizations called Educause and Cyberwatch. The goal of the National Cyberwatch center is to educate individuals more about cyber crimes and issues and also how to prevent these from arising. Please feel free to check out the website at http://www.cyberwatchcenter.org/index.php. Educause hosts numerous events and conferences each year. Educause is a non-profit organization set out with the goal to inform and educate people to make the use of technology safer. http://www.educause.edu/. Both webistes can give you information and  gain better insight into IT Security.

 

Cyber Security Project

      This contest is developed for students across the country to design projects that promote Computer Security awareness. My initial reaction was I was very interested in the idea of the project! After discussing with my partner different ideas for the project we decided on basing our project around Wi-Fi Security. Since my partner and I both liked the concept about Wi-Fi security, I will give you a little reasoning as  to why I thought it would be a good idea to talk about this subject. There is a commercial of a woman in a café buying a rather expensive watch (more than 800 hundred dollars) having her look around to seeming a bit nervous, however since her credit card company offers text notification alerts she proceeds with the transaction. Now this commercial was devolved to be a positive notion about fraud alert. Those of us in the IT field might feel a little differently -or maybe just me :-) - about the safety of this. With entering her credentials into her bank accounts website, anyone around her could have stolen those with using several different methods of intercepting this data. Hotspot wi-fi does NOT have the type of security many people may think it has, actually in most cases it does not have ANY security. Any transactions using person accounts  such as banks, credit cards, and even social media sites shouldn't be visited when using hotspots. Now you wonder why I am so concerned even though her credit card company offers fraud alerts? Her entering her information into this site can give hackers the opportunity to steal this information, sell it, or use it themselves to steal her identity, steal her money, or find other sites that don't provide fraud alerts, enter her same credentials (yes, many people use the same username and passwords) and there you have it, your life savings is washed away. Here is the video of where I developed the concept for the project...