How Safe is Free Wifi?
How Safe is Free Wifi?
Best practices to follow to stay safe while using a public Wifi
Free Wifi hotspots are everywhere — in cafes, at railway stations, airports and so on. Very few users though understand the risks associated with using free internet.
Let’s discuss the dangers involved in using a free wifi hotspot and the best practices to stay safe.
Information passed over an HTTP connection can be read by anyone
Data that is passed from your device using public wifi is visible to anyone else who is trying to read that data, using network sniffing tools. Data sent over an HTTP connection is always plain, which means it’s not encrypted. If you happened to use a website that asked for your credentials or bank details, then that information is available for a hacker to see.
Free Wifi Hotspots are not all Genuine; a few are Rogue hotspots
Every Free Wifi is not provided by a verified authority, a few are set up as bait by hackers.
Connecting your devices to these networks is equivalent to sharing your credentials with the hacker.
Follow these Best Practices to guard your data
Try to set a unique password for all these apps so that even if one app is hacked, the same password cannot be used to hack your other accounts and apps
Set a Strong password for the Wifi Router at your home. Router hacking is also a common practice that affects all the users that connect to that router.
Install AntiVirus software on your devices.
Do not connect to hotspots you don’t trust.
Do not share any sensitive information while connected to a password-free or public Wifi.
Even while using private Wifi, do not access HTTP endpoints. Your website would usually give you a warning not to trust an HTTP address, and it’s better to comply with that warning. Always use HTTPS endpoints that secure the HTTP request and response by encrypting the data and also verifying the server for its authenticity.
The Internet is not a safe place if we are not careful enough.
I hope this article helps you understand a few common hacking traps.
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