Wireless Security in a Hotel
by Bill on Jan.19, 2009, under Networking, Security
On business trips, we all usually bring a laptop for working in the hotel room. Talk about a hostile environment. Geez… tonight after powering up my laptop here in the room just to get set up and going, my software firewall (Zone Alarm Pro) was logging a massive port scan of my machine. It was an address inside of the hotel, but nevertheless, I don’t really appreciate it. Thanks goodness for my software firewall. I can’t help but wonder how many people come into a hotel unprepared for someone hitting their machine with all they can…obviously hoping that the machine is not patched /updated.
A few tips for the hotel laptop user:
- Make sure that your laptop has all of its patches and security updates before you leave home!
- While you are getting your patches, make sure that your antivirus is up to date as well.
- If you don’t use a third party software firewall, (Zone Alarm Pro, Sunbelt Personal Firewall, Norton Personal Firewall, etc.) make sure at a minimum you at least enable the Windows firewall. I personally don’t rely on it in a hotel, but it is better than nothing.
Stay prepared! You never know what you may run into away from home.
