Mobile hotspots give you internet wherever you go, allow you to check your work email while on the move, and may make your life easier, but it’s important to make sure that convenience isn’t substituted for your security. When connecting to the internet in a public setting, there’s always certain risk factors involved. It’s possible that while using your mobile hotspot in public, you come across people you don’t know or hackers who use your mobile internet access without your permission.
You should also be wary over how many people use your personal hotspot. If you’re not careful, you and everyone using your hotspot, can exceed the data limit in your plan, and you’re the one who will get slapped with the bill for excess data usage. To avoid these concerns, make sure you set the optimal security settings on your hotspot.
Follow these necessary precautions to get the most out of your personal hotspot:
- Enable WPA2 encryption, which is the most secure encryption type available on most hotspots.
- Change the default SSID, the wireless hotspot’s network name, to something random. Avoid using dictionary words.
- Create a strong wireless network password that avoids dictionary words and utilizes letters, numbers and symbols.
- Enable your hotspot’s port-filtering and blocking features. Turning off ports and services that you don’t plan on using while on your hotspot like FTP, HTTP, email traffic, and others, reduces the number of threat vectors.
- Change your password often. Changing your password a lot keeps out hackers and helps ensure security.
…
The BIGtoken blog brings you tips on data privacy and how to best manage your data everywhere. Get ready to claim your data.