It can be tempting to take advantage of free WiFi access points in airports, hotels, or in cafes, but resist the urge to use those connections to do anything other than browse for a map or train schedule.

 

Unsecured wireless connections — such as the open ones that some businesses provide as a service — can also leave you vulnerable to wireless snooping of your logins, email messages, or instant messages by other travelers or guests. The same can be said for untrusted computers in hotel business centers or cybercafés, which are magnets for data-stealing malware.

 

If the connection doesn’t ask you to provide a WPA key, assume the connection is not secure, and treat it as such. If you must use a free wireless connection, turn off any programs that automatically connect to the Internet (such as email clients or file-sharing tools) before you hook up, and try to access sites by typing “https” at the beginning of the URL.

 

Lastly, please don’t use the untrustworthy PC in the hotel lobby to do anything more private than print your boarding pass to get home.