As communities push to turn themselves into massive wireless hot spots, unsuspecting Internet users are stumbling directly onto hacker turf, giving computer thieves nearly effortless access to their laptops and private information, authorities and high-tech security experts say.

It's an invasion with a twist: People who think they are signing on to the Internet through a wireless hot spot might actually be connecting to a look-alike network created by a malicious user who can steal sensitive information, said Geoff Bickers, a special agent for the FBI's Los Angeles cyber squad.

At the Chicago Tribune.

[ Read more ]