Linked – Is public Wi-Fi as safe as you think?
“According to research 77 percent of people said that they did not feel that public Wi-Fi was any less secure than their own personal internet connection, 75 percent also said that they wouldn’t curb their activity on public Wi-Fi and they weren’t conscious of anything they may need to avoid doing whilst using it, showing a lack of awareness of the potential risk when using public Wi-Fi.”
We are clearly failing to educate people on the risks of using public wifi.
I’m not saying you should never use it, as much as I travel there’s no way I could claim that I don’t, but be aware of what you do when connected to a public network and plan accordingly. If you’re on a public network, like a hotel, and not taking any steps to use a VPN or other type of encrypted connected, then every thing you send from your computer goes across that network. Someone with a little tiny bit of knowledge can grab a copy of all of it simply by being connected to the network at the same time as you. Yes, that includes usernames and passwords, credit card information, etc.
So wait to do any online banking or shopping until you’re not on a public network, change your passwords frequently, and turn on two-factor authentication whenever you can. Assume that someone is getting your passwords from somewhere on a regular basis, and make that data useless using one of those last two methods.
Do you use public wifi networks? How do you keep yourself safe? I’d love to see some other techs and security experts chime in!
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