When you want to hop on the Internet, it’s hard to be the convenience of a wireless (Wi-Fi) hotspot. These are areas where you can use your wireless laptop to surf the Web and check email.

Wi-Fi hotspots have become pretty common over the last few years. You can find them in airports, coffee shops, college campuses and bookstores. You may even have read about citywide Wi-Fi projects in areas including Philadelphia, Seattle and Tempe, AZ.

That kind of coverage also makes hotspots more attractive to hackers than ever before. You should be more cautious in hotspots than you are at home.

An “Evil Twin” may be lurking

One of the more sophisticated Wi-Fi hotspot dangers is known as the "evil twin." An evil twin is a wireless hotspot set up by a hacker to lure people from a nearby, legitimate hotspot. When you log in at a Starbucks, for example, you might end up on an evil twin set up by the innocent-looking person working on a laptop at the next table.

The most harmful evil twins try to remain invisible and allow you to do business as usual. But in the background, they record everything you do and type while you're unknowingly connected. Do a little online shopping and you could end up giving away your credit card information.