Are You Sure That Public Wi-Fi Connection You're Using Is Secure?

It's that time of year. Rushing through the airport or train station. Visiting family and friends. Slipping away from said family and friends to catch up on work at the local coffee shop via Wi-Fi.

But here's the $64,000 question: Are you sure that Wi-Fi connection is secure?

We've written about the dangers of public Wi-Fi before. And since I expect that many of us are using public Wi-Fi during our holiday travels, I thought that a quick reminder about the "rules" would be useful:

1. If you are exchanging anything sensitive, use a VPN. A virtual privacy network or VPN will provide a secure link from your wireless device to the server of the Wi-Fi network you are using. Without a VPN, that last link from the server to your wireless device is the least protected and most hackable.