A free tool for wireless security. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. Walk into any Starbucks and chances are you'll see folks set up at tables…with their notebook PCs…connected to the Internet for business or pleasure. Lots of hotels and airports have wireless access points as well…mostly the kind that you have to pay for. If you subscribe to a wireless service on a monthly basis, there's probably not much to worry about when it comes to security. But if you pay only when you log on….it's easy to become a victim. Richard Rushing is chief security officer at AirDefense….a company that sells safeguards for corporate wireless networks. He says….if you are signing up for wireless access at a hotspot on the fly….you may be logging on to an access point set up by someone looking to steal your credit card or other personal data…

"And they typically occur by someone using software on a laptop pretending to be the access point."

It's simple enough for someone to do…and even give that access point the same name as the legitimate one you're trying to connect to. What AirDefense is offer for free…at airdefense.net…. is a software tool that monitors for the threats….and provides alerts. Beyond that, Rushing says…

"You really should not manage your 401K or make stock investments online or do banking online from a network like this. It would be the same as talking to someone on a street corner. You never know who is around you."

It's also important to be running firewall software…either the one Microsoft includes with Windows…or a stronger third party program. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.