Some of my customers ask me why they should create a password for their wifi if they are the only one using it or if they don't mind their neighbors using it, etc. There are a dozen reasons to secure your wifi password and restrict who can use your internet connection. I've compiled a list that should help you decide if password protecting your wireless internet is a good decision.

Unauthorized Use

This one is obvious. If you don't want just anyone accessing your wifi, particularly if you live in an appartment complex and want to make sure you have bandwidth available when you want to use it, a password is a good way to go.

Security

This is a biggie and probably the scariest. If you don't have a password on your WiFi and someone you don't know accesses your network, they can potentially see everything on your network including your PC, tablet, or phone and someone with nefarious intent can easily see what websites you access and if the site is unsecured, see what username and password you use to access your accounts. Someone tech savy enough can even pretend to be your device long enough to access your sensitive data then move on without you knowing they were there.

Illegal activity

Websites in general don't have the ability to see inside your network. Any access to the internet from your internet connection appears to come from one source, your internet IP address. So if someone is illegally downloading movies, for example, from your wireless network, you are responsible for their actions. You can be fined, and your internet access can be terminated by your ISP even tho you did nothing wrong. This is a problem for anyone with open, unsecured WiFi as some people will target these networks because they know their traffic cannot be traced back to them only to the internet connection they used.

Another good article on this subject can be found Here.