I just read an article about people using unsecured wireless networks. 12% of people asked said they use unsecured wireless networks. These can be in the form of your neighbors wireless router or sitting outside a cyber-cafe. I am not going to say I have never done it and I will admit I have done it recently.

I have a wireless network in my house. The security features that come with my router are enabled and I try to go the extra mile and do more than enable the WEP protection. I use the WPA encryption and enable MAC address filtering. It still isn't 100% safe but a little more difficult to get into.

Since I do use wireless it is possible for me to see other networks in my area. If I am remembering correctly my wireless card detected six or seven networks. Only two of them were secured. So I decided to have a bit of fun.

I could only access two of them due to signal issues. One was running a D-Link router and the other a Linksys. Both were using the default admin passwords and login information. No security was enabled at all. So I made it so they couldn't access the internet except for one website. The next day I went to check on them and both of them were still unsecured. I was shocked and amazed. Both were able to figure out their routers were messed with. So I did it again. The next day I checked again and what do you know, they were still unsecured. So either they are completely retarded or do not care.

The consumer level wireless routers will ask you if you want to enable security during setup. It doesn't require any magical knowledge of security or wireless protocols. All you have to do is follow the on-screen prompts. You can even have the router generate your WEP key for you. I can understand if someone was using an enterprise level router and doesn't have a clue but that is why you don't see Cisco enterprise level wireless routers at Wal-Mart.

One of the networks I got into I found the person was using a work laptop to connect to his network. RDP was enabled and I was able to get to the login screen. All it would take is a bit of packet sniffing with widely available free tools and I would have had his login information. Then I would have had direct access to his computer and any information on it. From what I could tell it was a government issued laptop. Not very smart in my opinion. God only knows what information is on that laptop. I'm sure his boss would love it if the laptop was compromised because of his personal unsecured wireless network.

I know my wife is going to read this and I will get yelled at but I didn't hack any computers. I just logged onto their networks and played some tricks. I didn't damage anything just caused some minor inconvenience.

The moral of this story is to secure your wireless network. There is plenty of information online about wireless security. Don't be an idiot. Educate yourself and protect your data.