Home wireless networks need to be secured in order to prevent identity theft and unauthorized use

• You see people on laptops surfing the web just about everywhere you go these days, but is that a good idea?
• 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney has been looking into wireless security.
• Go to just about any coffee house in the Bay Area and this is a familiar scene.
• Joanne McNabb, Office of Privacy Protection: "Identity theft is by far the biggest topic.
• More than half of those who call us do so because they have already been a victim or are concerned they will become a victim."
• Michael Vergara knows first hand how at risk wireless networks can be.
• He's with RSA Security, a firm that worries about your wireless connection.
• Here on a beautiful day in Union Square he's showing me how unsafe these hot spots can be.
• Michael Vergara: "A lot of bad things can happen if people are not securing their wireless network and as the computer shows today, people are not."
• And consumers have a roll to play too.
• Michael Vergara: "You don't leave your computer in the adhoc mode so other people can connect to it.
• A lot of people make that mistake.
• They forget to turn their wireless off when they don't need it, so their information is beaming out there and bad guys can take their information off there right now."
• So the next time you are out in some beautiful location sitting all alone working on your computer, remember -- someone could be electronically eavesdropping.
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