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We want to hear from you. We have activated our beta comment board system while we are testing it. Please comment on the story and share your thoughts.SALT LAKE CITY -- In neighborhoods everywhere, people can log onto their computers to find a list of secure and unsecure Wi-Fi connections nearby. It's the unsecure connections that could leave you vulnerable to having to answer to police for some crime you didn't commit.
Salt Lake resident Jami Hunt considers herself a computer geek. Despite her knowledge with computers, however, she never thought of securing her wireless router.
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Savvy hackers are tapping into unsecure wireless routers and downloading illegal images and videos on the owner's dime and possibly leave behind a trail of legal problems."It just never occurred to me that I needed to lock it down, because I just assumed everybody was honest," Hunt said. "My mistake."
She realized people were stealing her wireless internet capabilities when her brother came to visit.
"Not only were we unsecured. but we had five additional people besides ourselves using our Wi-Fi and just helping themselves," Hunt said.
it wasn't just people in the neighborhood, either. Hunt say many times she's watched a man pull up in his pickup truck, park right across the street from her apartment and log onto the internet.
"He's out there with his laptop," she said. "You can tell he's just trying to find what open network he can get."
Experts say one sign others are using your Wi-Fi connection is a slow connection.
"That's probably a good symptom of somebody on your wireless, is that the thing is starting to slowdown and slowdown," said Kevin McReynolds, information systems instructor at LDS Business College.
McReynolds recommends always securing your Wi-Fi connection.
"If you don't secure your wireless router, it's like taking your car to the store and leaving your keys in it and you're surprised when somebody runs off with it," he said.
Meanwhile, Hunt says her wireless connection is secure now. She's glad police didn't come knocking on her door for some illegal internet activity someone else did.
"I know that you can trace everything back to an IP address, and if they're using your internet it's your IP address that they're going to find," she said.
Email: niyamba@ksl.com
