I am very interested in wireless technolcogy, because as a low tech person, I hate the tangle of wires behind my desk and the immobility it imposes on my setup. But I am cautious, and keep hoping for an explanation of how, if I can point and click to my computer, someone else outside can't also access all my data. Now comes Fred Langa:

... The proliferation of wireless access points has spawned a whole new activity called 'war driving,' in which people cruise the streets looking for 'hot spots' where a wireless signal leaks out into public space. (The name derives from the old practice of 'war dialing' where miscreants such as the youthful hacker in the movie War Games would serially dial all phone numbers in an exchange, looking for an unguarded modem connection to hijack.)

He notes the main reason for security problems is that makes of these products want them to be as easy to set up and start using as possible. But he warns that at the bareminimum, each authorized user should have his own user ID and password, not using the (well-known) defaults that come with the software.
If you're going wireless, read this article, it's worth it.

-- posted by Palema on 10/02/2003