My friend said he doesn't bother with a password on his home wifi

We were at his place in Denver and I asked for the wifi password. He just shrugged and said, 'It's open, man, easier for guests.' I told him that's basically putting a welcome sign out for anyone driving by to snoop on his network traffic. He argued that with WPA2, it's a hassle and nothing bad has happened in two years. I still think an open network is a huge, unnecessary risk, even in a quiet neighborhood. How do you convince someone that basic security isn't just an inconvenience?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

david7016mo ago

Man, I used to think the same way until my neighbor got his bank info stolen. Somebody hopped on his open network and just watched everything he did online. Now I use a long password and change it every few months.

3

troy_reed6mo ago

@david701, how long was his password before?

6

ross.sean5mo ago

Why would he bother locking it up if nothing's happened yet though? I mean, @troy_reed, maybe his neighborhood is just that chill and the worst he's getting is a neighbor watching Netflix. Two years without a problem sounds like a decent track record to me, all that extra setup feels like overkill when things are working fine.

3