Weve come to depend on wireless hotspots. And no wonder. Theyre everywherehotels, restaurants, even city streets. Think about it. We can go almost anywhere. And still find time to connect with friends, check in with the office, and take care of day-to-day tasks. If were waiting for a flight, we can check our e-mail. When were grabbing a quick sandwich, we can schedule a dentist appointment online. While we wait for our kid to come up to bat, we can fire off an instant message (IM).

But along with the freedom and flexibility we gain from wireless hotspots, there are risks. The anonymity and chaos of public meeting placesalong with lax security measuresmake it easy for everyone from the nosey to the truly malicious to decode our passwords, steal our important information, and infect our laptops and notebooks with harmful viruses.

Fortunately, we can still enjoy the freedom of connecting to the Internet when were away from home. By making common sense choices and putting safeguards in place, we can greatly reduce our exposure to risk. Here are some tips to help you experience the Internet the way you want to.

Given their wide-open nature, theres no way to guarantee privacy on public hotspots.

That means you have to operate under the assumption that everywhere you surf, everything you IM, and everything you e-mail is potentially available for everyone else to see. By employing the same caution and common sense that you would when you leave your home or your parked car, you can protect your important information from theft and your computer from destructive viruses.

Make sure no ones looking over your shoulder when you log on to a hotspot, your e-mail, or Web sites. And never leave your computer unattended. Even if youre just visiting the counter for a quick coffee refill, lock your computer.
Dont surf to Web sites you wouldnt want a stranger to know about.
Avoid banking or trading online from a public hotspot.
If you use IM or e-mail at public hotspots, never send anything you wouldnt want a stranger to read. Consider setting up an extra Web-based e-mail account for hotspot purposes, and limit its use to casual communications.
Turn off your wireless card when youre not using it.
If your wireless card is set to automatically join the nearest network, change that configuration so youre required to manually select each wireless network you join.
Turn off file sharing while youre connected to a public hotspot. If you have highly sensitive or personal data on your laptop, consider storing it elsewhereperhaps on your home machine or a removable medium.

Protect your stuff from destructive scams

Heightened vigilance can help you secure your computer and your private information. But there are more serious threats you need to be aware of, such as packet sniffing and wi-phishing. Packet sniffing is a form of wire-tap applied to computer networks. As long as you and the hacker are on the same public network, they can sniff information packets in unencrypted wireless transmissions, and decode your passwords. In a wi-phishing scam, a bogus wireless logon page appears legitimate, but the only real part of a wi-phishing scam is the damage to you and your family. The good news? There are steps you can take to protect against attack.

Install strong personal firewall and state-of-the-art virus protection to protect your laptop from intruders and malicious code.
When joining a public hotspot, make certain youre logging into a legitimate network. To do so, check with the hotspot provider to confirm the network name and to see what the login should look like.
Use secure sites to send and receive personal information, such as name, address, passwords, and certainly any credit card information or other sensitive data. A website that uses encryption starts with https.

Wireless hotspots are here becoming increasingly popular. And for now, security is sorely lacking. Limit your exposure to risk by using common sense, staying alert, and installing the best tools available. By taking these precautions, you can keep your information safe against security threats, so you can continue to enjoy the freedom and choice of access the Internet from public spaces. Be sure to visit Club Symantec and Symantec Security Response regularly, to get the latest information and to make sure all your security components are up to date.