Recently, there has been speculation regarding the security of Fon passwords. Here at Fon, we take security very seriously and we keep all of our customers’ information securely stored at all times.
Firstly, Fon does not hold the password of all of the users in the database. In fact, many of our users who are part of the Fon community through one of our telco partners, have their passwords stored by our partners (their ISP or mobile operator). When this is the case, Fon has no access to the passwords at all, as they are not stored in Fon’s database.
Additionally, the passwords that Fon does manage are divided into numerous systems and platforms that do not share the same database or structure.
Rest assured that Fon does manage its passwords in a secure way. In keeping with industry best practice, we are aware that storing hashes or digests of passwords is considered better than encrypting them. Therefore, Fon has identified this possible improvement some time ago, and has already applied this change to some of its user types. Other users are being migrated gradually. This is by no means a security issue, as regardless of how the information is kept, it is kept safe.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your password safety, please feel free to contact our customer care team for further information about Fon’s password safety. To further increase your internet safety, we recommend that you always have a different password for each website or online service that you subscribe to.

Some people are writing telling me they’re a little preoccupied with the security issue when using FON. For me, worrying about this is really unnecessary. If we want absolute security for our computers, then we simply shouldn’t connect them to the internet nor should we leave our computer in a place where a burglar can break in and steal your hard drive. But for those who accept to live with a tiny bit of risk when surfing the internet, FON will actually increase security in the WiFi world. Let me explain.

First of all, a quick recap of the WiFi world in numbers: according to our studies, 35% of the wifi networks in Spain are open, which, in theory, any criminal can anonymously enter and hack. What FON does is that it asks its members to identify themselves and we give them a username and password that works with their access point, and, if they’re, Linuses, that they can use on other FON access points everywhere. In this way, only FON members will be able to connect to FON access points. To be sure, it makes the anonymous entry of a criminal into the FON network difficult. Compared to anonymous prepaid mobiles, this is much safer. And with today’s WiFi as well.

On March 11th, 2005 the Varsavsky Foundation will host the Atocha Workshop on global terrorism, an interactive brainstorm and policy forum that takes place at the Atocha train station on the first anniversary of the Atocha massacre. This workshop will include selected participants from the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, as well as other creative individuals. This is an independent event organized by the Varsavsky Foundation.

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