It seems that free public Wi-Fi networks are everywhere these days. In fact, you’ll probably need to look no further than the nearest fast food joint.

The widespread availability of public Wi-Fi networks is great for when we’re traveling or the rare times when the Internet is down at home for whatever reason, but they do have one serious downside: They are typically unsecured.

To keep things as simple and non-intrusive as possible, the owners of most public Wi-Fi networks make them available as open, non-encrypted networks that don’t require a password. Unfortunately, these networks can leave your sensitive data wide open to hackers.  [Read more…]