Winston Smith - Johannesburg 07/28/04

Choose your wireless Internet connection carefully - some are less secure than others

All Internet connections are subject to security threats whether they are via fixed-lines or wireless modems. As the use of wireless mobile devices grows, users should be more aware of security issues. According to Winston Smith, Product Manager at Sentech, security breaches take the form of hacker attacks or viruses as well as the physical loss of mobile devices through carelessness or theft.

"Wireless Internet connections are seemingly more prone to attacks as the air interface is considered to be more vulnerable than that of wired connections," he says.

"Popular WiFi connections are considered to be even less secure and more prone to sniffing - a technique used to detect WiFi connections and gain unauthorised access to the devices or networks connected to them."

allAfrica.com