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Conducting business online via laptop, cell phone or handheld device is productive -- but it can also be risky if the proper wireless security isn't in place.
"The productivity is tremendous, especially with handheld devices that you can use from anywhere," said Jack Vonder Heide, president of Technology Briefing Centers, Inc. "But the potential for catastrophe is great when we look at security breach possibilities. We really need to focus on them and make sure that we plug the holes."
In 2006, a hacker gained access to a financial institution employee's corporate user name and password when the employee accessed the Internet via a Wi-Fi signal in Midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park.
What he didn't know was that the seemingly legitimate wireless signal came from a nearby hacker, who could then track the employee's computer use, according to news reports.
Hotels, libraries, coffee shops and other public places now offer tens of thousands of Wi-Fi "hot spots" around the nation. But use caution when using Wi-Fi access to do any business-related work, Vonder Heide advises.
"I would not recommend anyone accessing anything of a confidential nature from a laptop computer via a non-secured wireless channel. It's just too risky," he said, A better option, he said, is to plug the computer into a phone line.
Better yet, he recommends that any data that leaves the workplace on a laptop computer be encrypted -- in other words, scrambled and locked with a mathematical "key."
Many companies require employees to use a virtual private network (VPN) to access the company system remotely, said Kim Passalugo, a computer support agent with Geek Squad, "it's like a secret tunnel, if you will, through the Internet that nobody else can see," she said.
At the very least, individuals who use wireless Internet at home should make sure their router has been personalized, so it...

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