The unvarnished truth about unsecured Wi-Fi

Chances are you don't leave your front door unlocked. And you shouldn't leave your Wi-Fi network unsecured either.

Many of you may have heard this before, but many still seem to not be doing anything about it. You should. Here's why. With a $50 wireless antenna and the right software a criminal hacker located outside your building as far as a mile away can capture passwords, e-mail messages, and any other data being transmitted over your network, and even decrypt data that is supposedly protected.

Someone could also join the network and launch attacks on your computer and any other devices using the network at that time. If file sharing has been left on or the personal firewall is misconfigured it's relatively easy to access the computer via an open Wi-Fi network. Someone could upload an executable program to a file on your hard drive that steals data or just leaves a back door for future access. And if you are using the network to connect to a corporate network through a VPN (virtual private network) an attacker can get into the corporate system too.