unsecured.... people may be able to see your stuff...

[stephenn]

hello
using unsecured wifi in cafes... it says (when connecting) people may be able to see what you are sending.

how risky is it?
can a user check to see who is looking?
can someone else in the cafe look/hack other users in the cafe.. if that way inclined

appreciate a little taster on this subject
thanks
(typing this in a cafe!)

cheers

[- P r 0 -]

Unsecured is not always good. Especially with hackers around. If you and others are in a room connected unsecurely, think of your computer as yourself being able to get up out of your seat and walk to everyone else's computer in the room. If they're smart enough, people can see what you're doing, send you stuff/viruses, edit/delete/take your files and so on. Very risky

[stephenn]

thanks for insight.
I wondered..... if people can ''see your stuff''.....

can they just see what is being sent or received (through the unsecured router) or can they actually have a look around inside my computer?

if they can actually steal files... are these just the ones I may be sending or downloading, or can they look around my C drive and 'fiddle' with things?

I have Kaspersky AV 2010
I use Vista defender as firewall
(I realise not heavy armour!)

thanks