Author: Jared Howe

‘Free Social WiFi’ Isn’t Exactly Free

The idea behind the concept of social WiFi is pretty simple: merchants offer free WiFi service to customers who visit their stores in exchange for customers logging into their network using their Facebook or LinkedIn accounts, or by giving the merchant their email address.

But what do you trade in exchange for logging into the merchant’s social WiFi network?

Zone Alarm Highlights the Risks of Public WiFi

A shocking two thirds of us (64%) have little or no concern about connection to public WiFi networks, despite the fact that everything we do on these networks can be viewed and stolen by others. Check out a study by Zone Alarm, which highlights three of the biggest risks on public WiFi: man-in-the-middle attacks, rogue WiFi networks, and packet sniffers.

Don’t Be Evil: San Francisco Artist Spoofs Google’s Free WiFi

A San Francisco media artist named Harris David Harris has created a fake public WiFi network that looked very much like the free one that Google offers to its employees who take private shuttles to and from work in Silicon Valley. His “d0ntb33vil” project — which mimics Google’s motto — also serves as his MFA thesis project in the Digital Arts and New Media program at UC Santa Cruz.

Instead of getting Internet access, Google employees saw an image of the sidewalk in front of them.

Apple’s iOS 8 Operating System Strikes a Blow for Privacy

Apple’s new operating system, iOS 8, has made it much harder for marketers to track your cell phone, and thus harder to track you.

While this is undoubtedly a good move for those concerned with protecting their privacy, others have raised concerns that Apple may be doing this to push their own tracking technology, iBeacon.

What the Government Knows About Our Online Activities

How much do we reveal about ourselves by simply going online? Keep reading to learn the surprising amount of data leaked by software programs and mobile phone apps — and how easy it is for someone else, from the government to cybercriminals, to get access to this information.

Centrify Survey Reveals Some of Us Think Mobile Security is Not Our Problem

If you are accessing corporate or sensitive data on your mobile phone, you should use a VPN like PRIVATE WiFi to protect your communications. But some people are not taking steps to protect that data, according to a new survey. The most disturbing findings? 15% of employees say they feel “minimal to no” responsibility to protect corporate data stored on their mobile devices. And 10% do not have any password, PIN, or other security measures in place to protect their mobile devices they use for work purposes.

Hackers at the World Cup: Beware the Risky Free WiFi in Brazil’s Soccer Stadiums

If you are lucky enough to be at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, chances are you will have access to the public WiFi networks set up just for the event. At least half of the 12 World Cup stadiums will have public WiFi available, with over 2,300 access points.

This includes inside the stadiums as well as the areas close by, such as parks, public transit stations, and squares. So that means that not only will those inside the stadium have access to public WiFi, but many thousands of other soccer fans outside as well.

Unfortunately, the World Cup (and its public WiFi) is attracting more than just soccer fans.