Yes, having Wifi without a password is a VERY bad idea.
Secure your Wifi
Here at InfoWest we LOVE Wifi. We use it and 99% of you, our customers use Wifi in your home. iPads need it, smart-phones can use it, laptops, gaming systems all use it too. It is a radio signal that, in most cases, will extend past the walls of your home or office.
Because the signals extend outside, you will want to make sure unauthorized or unknown people cannot use your Internet connection. This process is know as “Securing your Wifi”. It basically involves setting up the Wifi with a password that a person must enter when connecting. The reason you need Wifi secured is because any activity or action taken on your connection, becomes YOUR responsibility.
The process to secure a Wifi connection varies depending on the router that distributes Wifi in your home or business. The process of how to secure your Wifi isn’t the point of this blog post. We simply want to re-emphasize the importance of making sure your Wifi is secured.
A Terrifying Example
Article summary: The police received threats from a particular Internet (IP) address. The police raided the home corresponding to the IP address based upon information gathered from the Internet provider. They raided the wrong home! This was because a neighbor down the street had used their UNSECURED Wifi and was posting the threats. Take a minute to read the entire article (link opens in new window) 
Wow, just WOW. This post isn’t to discuss the use of force or the actions of the police. We just want to point out the necessity securing your Wifi and the dangers of not doing it.
Excuses
We have heard a few excuses from people on why they don’t want to secure their Wifi.
Lets talk about these and our rebuttals to these excuses:
- I live in the middle of no-where. No one will connect to my Wifi, all my neighbors are too far away.
- Ok, this one is common. The problem is, just because you don’t have nearby neighbors, doesn’t mean you are safe. There are Wifi antennas that people could use to access your Wifi from surprisingly long distances.
- I don’t like having to type a password to get onto my Wifi connection.
- This is not as common of an objection. Most devices and computers will SAVE the password once it is typed correctly the first time.
- I have visitors who need to use my Wifi
- We understand this need and we suggest you WRITE the password to your Wifi on the top of bottom of your router if you are likely to forget it.
- If the router is somewhere that unauthorized people may be able to see a password you would write on the router, write it down on a piece of paper and put it somewhere safe.
- It’s too hard to make it Secure!
- We can help with that. It is often easy enough for us to help you over the phone.
InfoWest featured in Broadband Properties Magazine
We offer High Speed Internet all over the state of Utah and southern Nevada. With Utopia, we are able to offer Fiber-optic internet to people’s homes, business and apartments. Although UTOPIA isn’t available everywhere, we do partner with them in the cities where it is available.
In Orem Utah, we setup a robust network for a property called “Village on the Parkway”. That property and our services were featured in the latest edition of “BroadBand Property Magazine” We are the “Property of the Month”. This is the first Utah property and service provider to be featured in this national publication.
http://www.bbpmag.com/property/prop0711.php
We are excited to be a part of UTOPIA and look forward to it’s expansion into some of our other coverage areas.
Do you or someone you know have need of a High Speed internet setup at a property you own or manage? We can get High Speed internet in may places you may not expect!
Give us a call, we can help! http://www.infowest.com/contact-us/general-info/
Watch Out! Be Suspicious!
Posted by Cassidy in General, Online Safety & Privacy on May 20, 2011
HOW TO AVOID BECOMING A PHISHING VICTIM
You may have heard of phishing (pronounced “fishing”). That’s when some
malicious attacker tries to steal your personal information by
pretending to be your bank, one of your online stores, or your Internet
Service Provider. These thieves are “phishing” for your information to
use it as their own.
Almost every day at InfoWest, we see examples of phishing attacks
against InfoWest customers. Very often these attacks appear as an email
message that looks like it came from InfoWest, requesting account login
and password information. These malicious phishers are sophisticated
enough that they find ways to sneak past junk mail filters.
It gets worse. Have you ever heard the term “spear phishing”?
That’s when the thieves know something about you and use it to pretend
to be legitimate, targeting an individual or group very specifically.
Because they seem to know what they’re talking about, and may mention
names or events that the individual or group knows about. It lends
credibility to their request for information. It sounds so real.
Today at InfoWest, we have received reports that not only have email
messages claiming to be from InfoWest been received by InfoWest users
(the messages were NOT from InfoWest–we NEVER ask for password or
account information over email), but SOMEONE IS CALLING INFOWEST USERS
ON THE PHONE and pretending to be InfoWest. That’s right. They’re
impersonating InfoWest and using the telephone to target InfoWest
customer information.
DON’T FALL FOR IT! IF YOU EVER HAVE ANY QUESTION if the person you are
talking to really is from InfoWest, ask them politely for their
extension number and say you will call them back immediately.
DO NOT call a phone number you get over the phone. Instead, use a
trusted source and look up the InfoWest phone number. Our contact
information is pubished on our web site at:
http://www.infowest.com/contact-us/general-info/
This way you know that YOU initiated the telephone call, and that you
called what you KNOW is the legitimate InfoWest telephone number. You
should then be able to reconnect to whomever you were speaking with
using their extension.
REMEMBER: InfoWest doesn’t need to ever ask you for your password, not
with email, not over the phone, because it is stored in our secure
database. When YOU call US, we may ask you to verify your password so
we can be sure that you are who you say you are. (Yes, we sometimes have
to be a little suspicious of identity theft too!)
That should be the ONLY time you ever need to give us your password.
And you should ONLY do it when YOU initiate the contact, contacting US
using information you ALREADY have and trust.
On the Internet, sometimes it pays to be skeptical and suspicious
whenever someone is asking for personal information.
If you have any questions or concerns on this topic, please give us a
call or send us a message. (Or if you have any other customer support
issues, we are ready and waiting to assist.)
Ironman St. George Recap
This past weekend St. George played host to the world. Triathletes and their families from 36 countries and 48 States gathered in Washington County for the 2nd Annual Ironman St. George.
Months ago in preparation, InfoWest was asked to provide an Internet feed to the Ironman event, so thousands of online viewers were able to watch, live, as the event unfolded. Thanks to our core redundant fiber optic network, InfoWest was able to deliver.
This Saturday the Pro-Triathletes were not the only things that were lightning fast!. Our Internet feed rivaled those Cervélo bikes. We were able to wirelessly deliver a 50Mbps connection to the Ironman tech crew, with an uninterrupted feed from 6am to after midnight!
Congratulations to all of the finishers and the many that volunteered!
InfoWest is a proud sponsor of many of the Triathlons put on in Utah and Nevada. Visit BBSC Endurance Sports and TriUtah for some of the events InfoWest is proud to be a part of.
We hope to see you all next year at IMSG 2012!
Secure your wireless network
Posted by Jeff in Broadband, General, Network Info, Online Safety & Privacy, wireless on April 25, 2011
Here at InfoWest, we love wireless networking. It is convenient and fast. Wi-fi routers are getting less expensive and more powerful. The radios and antennas in today’s routers can reach far beyond the walls of your home and even beyond your property lines. This means you must take steps to secure your Wi-fi router to prevent people from accessing your network.
Some subscribers may not have their Wi-fi signal secured for any number of reasons. Here are a few examples
- “I don’t care if other people use my Internet connection”
- “I live in the middle-of-nowhere, who is going to ‘steal’ the signal ?”
- “I don’t want to mess around with passwords.”
- “I have too many visitors or guests to worry about passwords”
- “I don’t have any idea how to put a password on my Wi-fi router”
We can understand all of the reasons…but we suggest having a strong password on your Wi-fi. When we sell or setup a Wi-fi router we routinely setup secure passwords on the wireless network.
Here is a horror story of someone who didn’t protect their Wi-fi router and they got a visit from Law Enforcement:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/51684084-68/wireless-homeowner-someone-internet.html.csp
Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of “pedophile!” and “pornographer!” stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn’t need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.
That new wireless router. He’d gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.
“We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,” the man’s lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, “Doldrum.”
“No, I didn’t,” he insisted. “Somebody else could have but I didn’t do anything like that.”
“You’re a creep … just admit it,” they said.
Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router.
This is a pretty extreme example of what could happen.
We want your Internet connection to be the best it can be. If you need help securing your Wi-fi signal or finding out if your Wi-fi is protected already, we can help. Give us a call!