Turn Off Wi-Fi While Airborne

PC Magazine is running an interesting column about researcher Mark Loveless, who found that virtually every flight he took was filled with people using laptops with unsecured Wi-Fi connections. If you aren't worried about downing the plane, give it a try yourself and turn on your wireless antenna next time you're in the air: You'll typically see up to a dozen computers broadcasting, and several of those will be completely open and sharing all their documents.

What's more, many computers will automatically try to connect to these ad hoc networks without human intervention. That's because users don't bother to change the SSID of their routers, and your computer may very well think that the airborne default is the same ad the default network back at the office.

Needless to say, the security risk is monumental. Imagine if you're among a planeload of travelers headed to a big Vegas trade show: You could very well be riding shotgun with a dozen different competitors, and your laptop could be spraying trade secrets because of your unsecured wireless connection.

What to do? The simplest thing is to simply turn off your wireless antenna, though even I forget sometimes. As a secondary measure, make sure you disable any shared directories you don't vitally need, and turn off ad hoc networking. Detailed instructions are available on the last page of the linked article.