The Heresy of Free Airwaves

Security guru Bruce Schneier did a piece a while back about how his home network is not locked: Steal this Wifi.

The bottom line for him is that his computer should be secure on any open network outside the home so why not open the home network? The man has a point. But of course the obvious question is: how do you secure your computer for an open network?

Simply asking the question gets people quite excited. It hints at heresy and insanity and it seems I should be locked up for my own good. I asked my office IT guy and he suddenly became extremely amused like I'd just won the freak of the day contest.

For the record I'm not a complete moron (IMHO). I'm protected by:

• a firewall
• PeerGuardian2
  
• anti-virus software
• anti-spyware software
• my file sharing is turned off

What else do I need to safely open my network? It seems that short of writing Bruce himself I will not get an answer because those who know will not tell me.

I would also like an application that will tell me who is using my network so I can actually see if there is anyone using my network. IE something that updates in real time so I don't have to keep refreshing the router's connection webpage.

The only sensible advice I've had so far is to ensure that I change my router's password from the default password.

Labels: computer, network, security, wifi