使用這些程序和大功率的Wi-Fi天線的成本不到90美元，這樣黑客們就能監(jiān)聽到兩三英里內(nèi)的家庭無線網(wǎng)絡信號了。市場上還有一些帶有內(nèi)置天線的黑客設備，例如售價156美元的WifiRobin之類。但專家們稱這些設備并不如最新的自由黑客程序來的便捷有效，這些設備只能針對采用WEP保護的網(wǎng)絡使用。

　　To protect yourself, changing the Service Set Identifier or SSID of your wireless network from the default name of your router (like Linksys or Netgear) to something less predictable helps, as does choosing a lengthy and complicated alphanumeric password.

　　要保護你自己，最好將你的服務集標識符或無線網(wǎng)絡服務組標識符(SSID)由路由器的默認名(Linksys或Netgear之類)改成一個比較不易預測的名字，就像選擇夠長夠復雜的字母數(shù)字混合的密碼那樣。

　　Setting up a virtual private network, or V.P.N., which encrypts all communications you transmit wirelessly whether on your home network or at a hot spot, is even more secure. The data looks like gibberish to a snooper as it travels from your computer to a secure server before it is blasted onto the Internet.

　　建立一個虛擬專用網(wǎng)絡將對你收發(fā)的所有信息進行加密，無論你使用的是家用無線網(wǎng)絡或是Wi-Fi熱點。這會更安全些。你的計算機發(fā)出的數(shù)據(jù)會先經(jīng)過一個網(wǎng)絡安全服務器再在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上傳播，這樣加密后的數(shù)據(jù)在嗅探軟件看來就像是一堆亂碼一樣。

　　Popular V.P.N. providers include Vyper, HotSpot and LogMeIn Hamachi. Some are free; others are as much as $18 a month, depending on how much data is encrypted. Free versions tend to encrypt only Web activity and not e-mail exchanges.

　　流行的提供商包括Vyper, HotSpot 和LogMeIn Hamachi。其中一些是免費的，另一些則依加密的數(shù)據(jù)量的多少來計費(如每月18美金)。免費版本的通常只加密Web訪問信息而不加密電郵。

　　However, Mr. Palmer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation blames poorly designed Web sites, not vulnerable Wi-Fi connections, for security lapses. “Many popular sites were not designed for security from the beginning, and now we are suffering the consequences,” he said. “People need to demand ‘https’ so Web sites will do the painful integration work that needs to be done.”

　　但電子前哨基金會的帕爾默先生卻認為網(wǎng)絡安全的疏失更多的要歸咎于糟糕的網(wǎng)站設計，而非Wi-Fi連接本身的脆弱性。他說：“許多熱門網(wǎng)站在其設計之初就對安全問題考慮不足，現(xiàn)在不得不自食其果，大眾要求使用‘https’，因此網(wǎng)站不得不艱難的履行其義務。”