How To Keep Yourself Safe On WiFi Networks

Whenever joining your computer to a public WiFi network you are putting the contents of that machine at risk. There are some precautions I suggest taking to help keep these pesky attackers away from your files.

Free WiFi access is becoming more popular than ever. A lot of people depend on these hotspot areas like airports, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and even southwest airlines has been testing free WiFi on some of their flights. I know a lot of Mac users who like to believe they are safe from any kind of internet attack. This is not true. Sure most viruses are aimed at Windows operating systems but I'm referring to transmitting your personal data over a public network, which can easily be pulled down by someone else on that network if they know what they are doing.
So lets dig into what we can do keep them away from our data.

• First thing is to make sure you are connecting to a reputable WiFi provider. There are people out there creating fake networks in order to lure in and steal unsuspecting users information. On more than one occasion I have seen networks go by the name of "Free Public WiFi" which can very well connect you directly to the hackers computer.

• Now that you've found a reputable WiFi provider to join open up your System Preferences, click on the Security pane and choose the firewall tab. Make sure the Mac's built-in Firewall is on. Now click the advanced button and be sure that "Black all incoming connections" and "Enable Stealth Mode" are checked. I prefer to keep stealth mode turned on all the time, not just when trying to hide from attackers on a public network.

• Our third step is going to greatly increase our protection over a public network. We are going to establish a secure VPN connection using a free utility called Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield encrypts your web session and hides your IP from potential attackers. This is a free application that works on both Mac and Windows.
• Once you launch it from the Applications folder a new browser window and menu bar pop up and you will see a shield icon displayed in your menu bar. You can either click the "Connect" button in the browser and watch the red shield in your menu bar change from red to green. If that doesn't tickle you then you can right click the red shield in the menu bar and select "Connect."
  

Once you're done just select disconnect from the shield icon in the menu bar and that's it. You can now connect to a public WiFi network and keep all your transactions safe and secure.