That goes without saying....or at least it did until you said it.
I'm not anticipating a roving band of hackers to come through the neighborhood and start using my connection.
I guess I didn't make my point clearly enough so here we go again.
Too many people do not take ordinary care of their connections. Why make it easy?
I know hackers can always find a way, but why lay out a welcome mat for everybody and everybody's dog to glom onto your hookup by skipping the security features altogether?
Yup. But, in general, you only need to be a step faster than your slowest neighbor.
When I turn on my laptop, I get my own Wifi connection, plus 4 of my neighbors.
My setup is totally secure. Neighbors' are not. Which one do you think a hacker will check out?
The one setup that I could ID - I mentioned to the guy. HE said 'Pah' and waved his hand. Wonder if he'd do the same thing if I presented him with copies of his tax returns, CC numbers, bank PINs, etc. I haven't hacked his system because I figure that it's none of my business. Doubt that others think the same way.