It’s often a huge relief to discover free Wi-Fi at the airport, train station, coffee shop, or hotel. However, it’s important to realize that these connections aren’t always as secure as you might think.
Vincent Iachetta Jr., president of Peppermonkey Media, discusses why you should think twice before connecting to public Wi-Fi.
What Are The Dangers?
Man-In-The-Middle Attacks
Man-in-the-middle attacks are where hackers break into the public network and view your data as it passes from your connected device to the Wi-Fi router.
Vincent says, ‘If you’re doing online banking at the time, hackers can see your passwords and account information. They can steal your credit card number, email address, and other personal details.’
Evil Twin Attacks
When you’re looking for a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you may discover a lookalike to the correct one. It might be named something like, ‘Free University Wi-Fi1’ or ‘Station Wi-Fi234’. But by using this clone instead of the correct network, you’re connecting right to the scammers, meaning you could expose your private data.
Malware-Infected Networks
According to Vincent, ‘If hackers infect a network, they can send software bugs to any device connected to it. If you suddenly see a pop-up, don’t click on it because it could contain an infected link.’
Session Hijacking
If a cybercriminal gains access to your device while you’re browsing online, they can copy your data. Next, they’ll hijack your browsing session and masquerade as you. In turn, they can steal your money, personal details, or identity.
How Can You Stay Safe?
Vincent has some top tips for beating scammers on public networks:
Always use A VPN (Virtual Private Network) when using public Wi-Fi. It’ll encrypt all your data so that it can’t be viewed by hackers.
Use a Password Manager so that cybercriminals can’t view your password.
Vincent says, ‘You should also never conduct sensitive activities such as online banking when using free Wi-Fi. If you really have to look at your banking info, do it via an app using 4G.’
In the end, though, Vincent’s most simple advice is: ‘Use your mobile data rather than risking public Wi-Fi. The inconvenience of using up your data is nothing to what you’ll face if your personal details are stolen by scammers.’
