NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Wireless home connections can make life more comfortable. After all, who wouldn't want to surf the Web on the couch? But the risks to your privacy and security are right outside your door.

In today's top 5 Tips Home Edition, we're going to show you how you protect your wi-fi system from getting hijacked.

If you can walk around your house picking your files out of thin air, so can anyone else. And with all that data flying through the air, your privacy is at risk.

Hackers can steal your identity, break into your bank accounts, destroy your computer and record all your personal data. And while more and more homeowners are turning to wi-fi connections, many home wireless networks are left casually insecure. Gartner estimates that 75 percent of wireless local networks don't have enough protection.

"There are wide open connections everywhere," says Neel Mehta of Internet Security Systems.

And since your wi-fi signal is bouncing inside AND outside your home, it's easy for anyone to just drive by and pick up those signals. In fact, there's a term for that. It's called "War Driving." Essentially, there are people who drive around and pick up residential hot spots, according to Ken Dulaney of Gartner Technology.

It's certainly easy enough to find vulnerable areas. Wi-fi finders are even made on keychains. All you have to do is press a button to see if there's a wireless signal in the area.

If you're looking to buy a wi-fi connection, make sure you have the latest encryption. Right now the standard is called the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). In two months, that standard will change to the WPA II. Just make sure you don't still have the old standard known as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). WEP has a lot of vulnerabilities, says Dulaney.

Encryption fights this weakness by masking your data into a scrambled and undecipherable code. And just getting the right encryption isn't enough. You also have to turn it on. Typically manufacturers won't turn on the WPA security switch because they don't know what security you'll want to put in, says Dulaney.

If you bought your wi-fi more than 2 years ago, chances are you still have WEP. Check the manual. If you find you still have WEP, don't panic yet. One of the best moves you can make is to put up firewalls that will make your Internet connections invisible.

In order to hide the fact you have wireless access at home, get rid of the standard identifier or the SSID number, which is commonly called something like Linksys or D-Link.

People who are looking to take advantage of your wireless will be looking for default identifiers, says Mehta.

Change the SSID number to something more unusual. Stay away from titles like your name or street address. A war driver can determine those things separately -- by looking in the phone book, and then he'll know the network he has tapped into belongs to you.

Once you do change the name, make sure you also turn off the SSID broadcast so that it disappears from potential hacking radars. You'll still be able to access your own network through your control panel according to Internet Security Systems. But remember, nothing is fool proof, says Denny Arrar of PC World. Sophisticated hackers will even find a way around this.

Your password should be impenetrable. To make it as strong as possible, use at least eight characters, according to Microsoft. Your password should also have a combo of numbers and symbols within the password, don't save these gems for last. Your password should also have a mixture or upper and lowercase letters too.

You may even want to use a mnemonic device to trigger a complex password. Start with a memorable sentence. For example, "What you see is what you get," becomes "WYSIWYG."

Do not use your login name, your birthday, your spouses' name or the name of your pet. To get an idea of how strong your password is, check out www.microsoft.com/athome/security.

Not only are there plenty of computer products out there to help you defend your wi-fi, but now there's paint you can apply to your walls that's supposed to prevent attacks and theft of wireless network data. This paint is designed to deflect intruding wireless network radio signals and help stop radio wave leakage, according to the company.

The problem? Well, it's probably not worth it says Mehta. At almost $70 a gallon, you're better off sticking with more conventional methods. The other problem? It only comes in grey.

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Gerri Willis is a personal finance editor for CNN Business News and the host for Open House. E-mail comments to 5tips@cnn.com.