The Risks of Public WiFi

Each one of us has, at least once, been connected to a Public WiFi. Whether it is a Hotel WiFi, a coffee-shop, an airport, public WiFi is never completely safe.

This is due to what are called "Man-in-the-Middle" attacks, where there is a hacker intercepting information (often unencrypted) travelling from the device to the WiFi router. In this way, hackers are able to steal personal information including passwords, personal details such as name and surnames, Date of Births, Home addresses, as well as bank card details.

Source: https://www.hackers-arise.com/single-post/2017/07/25/Man-the-Middle-MiTM-Attack-with-ARPspoofing 

Another downside of public WiFi is Rogue Hotspots, that are Public WiFis named after a legitimate Hotspot, but are actually set up by hackers to steal your data or inject malware to your devices. Always make sure where you are connected to is the legitimate network by asking an employee.

Wi Fi Safety from Get Safe Online on Vimeo.

How to make sure that the Public WiFi is secure? Follow these simple steps:

1 Make sure that the full web address (URL) begins with HTTPS instead of HTTP, which means that is not secure. You can quite simply tell if the WiFi network is safe by checking whether it has a padlock next to the URL (see picture below).

2 Try not to access websites containing sensitive information such as Online Banking or even your Facebook account, and if you really want to use them, it is better to do it with your mobile network rather than Public WiFi.

3 Always apply software updates and use anti-virus to reduce the chances of getting hacked. You can check out the anti-virus packages Strathclyde University offers to its students by clicking here.

4 Change the settings into your mobile phone to make sure that you are asked before connecting to a Public WiFi, so that you can decide whether it is legitimate before it is too late.

We hope this was helpful, leave a comment below if you know any other tips for using Public WiFi safely!