DeKALB | If you don’t have security on your wireless Internet connection, you may be asking for trouble.

An unprotected wireless connection can be used by anyone that receives it, said Raimund Ege, chair of the computer science department.

Unauthorized users can slow down service by eating up bandwidth.

Any illegal Internet activity, such as sharing copyrighted material, can also be traced back to one’s wireless router, Ege said.

“War driving” involves driving around in a car until an unprotected connection is found, said associate communications professor Robert Miller.

The name comes from the 1983 Cold War thriller “War Games”, in which the term “war dialing” was spawned, Miller said.

When a connection is found, thieves “piggyback” onto the router, having access to the Internet and possibly the computer.

“[Unauthorized connection] can conceivably be charged as criminal offense under theft of service statutes,” Miller said.

Last year in Winnebago County, a man pleaded guilty to using a wireless Internet connection without permission. He was fined $250 and given one year of court supervision.

The man was found in a parked car trying to access someone else’s Internet on his laptop computer.

Unwanted users can be stopped if owners activate the built-in security feature on a wireless router.

“Any access point purchased today can have a secure connection,” Ege said.

The newest encryption technology is called WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access).

The older security was called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and can now be hacked, Ege said.

“Typically [people] don’t [use the security] because something goes wrong,” Ege said. “Conceptually, the security is straight forward.”