Creating a strong, unique password using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is essential for securing a hotspot connection and mitigating unauthorized access. MAC filtering adds an additional layer of security by only allowing access to the laptop with a specific MAC address. However, since MAC addresses can be spoofed, relying solely on MAC filtering is less secure than using WPA2 or WPA3 with a strong password. Open networks are vulnerable to any nearby device, which is a significant security risk. Restricting the number of connected devices alone does not inherently secure the network as any device within that limit could connect.