can people at a coffee shop gain access to my laptop if we are sharing wireless network?

Question

many coffee shops offer free wireless network so that customers with laptops can use the internet in there. in this case, are there any chance others might gain access into my laptop wirelessly and use my files?

if the answer is "yes", is it easy to do so? does this really happen commonly?

Answer 1

Yes, this is not only possible it is easy. On two occassions I have been able to access the hidden shared drive on other laptops in the coffee shop I was in.

By doing something like:

ipconfig /all

get your ip (assigned by the coffee shop router)

then nbtstat -a

then access the hidden share on the other computers attached to the network! You could use UNC paths for example: \\\c$

This is REALLY simple stuff and so there are much more complex methods that people can use but...

To shut this off, just "unshare" your C:\ drive (right click on C drive, select sharing, then UNSHARE it).

The next thing is to install firewall software on your laptop to keep people from accessing various ports.

Answer 2

Well thats a broad question just because the answer is yes IF the person is a hacker becuase anyone can hack wireless networks its not that hard but usually your safe i dont think someone is going to sit there all day and hack pc's but i guess if someone is bored they could.

Answer 3

Yes. That is why when you use a public network you need to be very careful about which of your files are marked as available for sharing. Don't designate any for sharing unless you really don't care who uses those files because anyone might.

Answer 4

Yes, they can view your entire hard drive and leave pornographic images, and change the desktop theme, and sign you up for a 40-year subscription to any magazine in the world.