Why You Should Never Trust Public Wi-Fi Without These 5 Tools

When checking into a hotel, enjoying a coffee, or doing some exercises in a gym, the sight of ‘Free Wi-fi’ on board is always a nice treat. The usual thing we do is to take this wi-fi connection right away. But it is very important to understand that public wi-fi use puts you at the mercy of hackers. These connections allow a hacker to easily access your information and use it for their purposes. As a result, you should not carry out any private transactions while connected to a public wi-fi network.

Moreover, this blog will outline the hazards connected with the use of public wi-fi, the ways hackers can get your information over public wi-fi, and the precautions that you need to take to keep your data safe during the use of public wi-fi.

What Are the Risks of Using Public Wi-Fi?

A simple thing like public wi-fi may cause a threat to your well-being. However, it is very easy to access public Wi-Fi. Hence, there are many terms and conditions associated with it. In order to know how to use it, it is necessary to know what threats it causes. 

Public wi-fi may cause serious damage to your device and compromise your personal information. Hackers out there wait for you to connect to their duplicated wi-fi under the pretext of the banner’s name, wherever you are using it. 

Wi-fi in public places can be harmful in unexpected ways. A hacker can access and alter your data if they manage to get past your system. Additionally, you might lose all of your data, including documents, photos, videos, and much more. Under your identity, they may commit serious crimes too. You can also face malware threats like confronting viruses, worms, trojans, etc. 

It may also damage your social reputation. In the era of artificial intelligence, it is very easy to edit any picture and upload it to adult websites. One of the most serious cybercrimes is data theft. It entails the theft of private information, including passwords, financial records, business secrets, and personal information. It significantly affects social, personal, and financial facets of life.

Data theft, or packet sniffing, is a passive way of hacking Wi-Fi. Packet sniffing intercepts data packets moving across wireless networks to obtain sensitive information. These attacks usually target unsecured public networks, monitoring suitable Wi-Fi network activity to target.

How Hackers Access Your Data Through Public Wi-Fi?

It is important to know how hackers access your data. These steps explain how the process is carried out.

Step 1: Connecting to Public Wi-Fi

You initially connect to free Wi-Fi at any public location, such as a café, airport, hotel, or shopping center. This wi-fi is often without a password or encryption. Hence, it is easy for you to connect, but also easy for hackers to get in.

Step 2: The hacker joins the same network in step two

Following that, the hacker joins the same public Wi-Fi network. Your traffic becomes public once you both use the same data channel.

Step 3 : Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack

A hacker secretly inserts themselves between you and the website or service you’re using. From there they can see everything you send and receive, read messages, change files, and even capture passwords or logins, all without you knowing.

Step 4:  Evil-Twin (Fake Hotspot) attack

The hacker sets up a bogus Wi-Fi network that looks legit. If you join it, they control your internet traffic and can steal anything you send passwords, messages, or private files.

Step 5: Malware Injection

On such unsecured networks, hackers usually inject malware into the files that you are going to download. This malware can steal saved passwords and spy on your activity.

Step 6 : Session takeover

If a website doesn’t use HTTPS, someone can steal the little “ticket” (your session cookie) that proves you’re logged in. With that, they can open your account without needing your password.

Step 7 : Packet sniffing (examining packets)

On public Wi-Fi, attackers can run tools that watch the data your device sends and receives. If that data isn’t encrypted, they can read emails, searches, and payment details as if they were looking over your shoulder.

Step 8 : File-sharing hijack

If your device has file sharing turned on, a hacker on the same network can browse shared folders, drop malware into your machine, or copy files from your phone or laptop. It may also result in a phishing attack.

5 Tools to Secure Public Wi-Fi

Till now you have seen how a hacker targets you. However, there are tools that can protect your device and the data if you are using public wi-fi.

1. Virtual Private Network, or VPN

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) functions like a secure service that establishes an encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet. It not only disguises your IP address and location; rather it also makes it impossible for anyone to intercept your data, which is a common practice on unprotected networks such as public Wi-Fi.

A VPN gives you such a strong encryption over your internet traffic that not only hackers but also ISPs and public Wi-Fi snoopers are completely prevented from accessing it. Moreover, it also masks your IP address which makes it more difficult for websites and advertisers to locate you or identify you. 

When using a VPN, your internet connection is encrypted thus your online activities are protected from intrusion by hackers and even the Wi-Fi provider. Interestingly, some of the well-known names in the business are NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and ProtonVPN.

2. Firewall

By monitoring and blocking suspicious traffic to and from your device, a firewall helps prevent unwanted access. As the protector of your network, a firewall determines which online "visitors" can enter or leave and which cannot. Firewalls also include built-in features like Windows Defender Firewall for Windows and macOS Firewall for Mac. It blocks unwanted connections that are crucial for public networks.

3. Antivirus/Anti-Malware Software

One of the functions of an antivirus program is to find and stop any dangerous malware that might come from a public network. If anti-malware software is not present, malicious applications may destroy data, take credit card numbers, watch you secretly, or hold your phone for ransom. It does file and app scanning for bad codes; it stops the dubious action before any damage is done to the system; and it eradicates the different types of infections, like viruses, ransomware, trojans, spyware, worms, etc. and it provides a real-time security solution that will block an attack at once.

4. HTTPS Everywhere Extension (now built into most browsers)

The use of this browser add-on guarantees that your connection is secure by making it a requirement for the websites to employ HTTPS. The extension by the name of HTTPS pushes websites to swap the insecure HTTP version for a secure encrypted connection. 

The extension not only shields your online activity from being watched by hackers but also ensures data theft does not occur when you are entering passwords, credit card numbers, or other sensitive data. Furthermore, it also thwarts man-in-the-middle attacks on unsecured networks such as public Wi-Fi. Besides, it encrypts communication between your browser and web servers to impede eavesdropping.

5. Install Privacy App

Privacy applications are a means of informing you about the dubious network activities happening around you or any unauthorized users who have connected to a Wi-Fi network. The use of a Network Monitor or Privacy App enables you to observe, control, and protect the data shared by your device along with the way it connects to the internet. Network Monitoring is able to keep track of every single incoming and outgoing connection from your device.

Besides revealing the unusual activities like some unauthorized software quietly sending out data, it also shows which processes or apps are using the internet. Moreover, it can also be of great help in spotting spyware, malware, and illicit data transfers.

Tips to stay safe on public Wi-Fi

The tools that are mentioned above can help you protect yourself if you want to connect to public networks. Other than that, you should keep the below-given steps in mind:

• Avoid working with sensitive data

Working with sensitive data in the format of public Wi-Fi is not a good practice. Public networks are usually open, and hackers can quietly listen to data communication over them. If you insist on operating in this manner, the consequences could be theft of your identity, unauthorized access or loss of money. Therefore, it would be better to stay away from sensitive or personal information until you can connect to a private, secure network.

• Use Password protected wifi only

Accessing the Internet through an open Wi-Fi network increases the risk of attacks significantly since everyone including cybercriminals can connect to the network. 

With the use of Password-protected Wi-Fi, there is a very simple layer of security provided. It becomes harder for the hackers to hit the ground running and spying on you as the data is being transmitted securely between your device and the router. Always adopt password management techniques and double-check the name of the network with the provider to prevent connecting to fake networks.

• Maintain software updates

Cybercriminals frequently take advantage of well-known flaws in out-of-date software. You expose yourself to viruses and exploits when you neglect updates. When it is feasible to maintain protection without exerting manual effort, enable automatic updates.

• Disabled network sharing

Public Wi-Fi is not the place for file or printer sharing. If network sharing is enabled, anyone on the same network could see your shared folders or even place harmful files on your device. 

On Windows, open Network Settings and turn off file and printer sharing. 

On macOS, go to System Preferences, click on Sharing, and disable sharing. 

This helps keep your private files secure from unwanted access.

• Disable auto-connect feature

Most laptops and smartphones have an auto-connect feature that remembers Wi-Fi networks used in the past and automatically reconnects to them when in range. This comfort may end up being a danger in the case of public networks.

One of the common tactics used by cybercriminals is the setting up of "Evil Twin" hotspots, which are fake Wi-Fi networks that mimic a real one's name (SSID).An example of this is that if a hacker has set up a network that is named the same as a legitimate one and you have previously connected to "Airport_Free_WiFi," your device may accidentally connect to the hacker's clone network.

Free Wi-Fi Is Not Really Free

Free Wi-Fi Is Not Really Free, It Costs Your Privacy

Public Wi-Fi might not charge you money, but you often pay with something far more valuable: your personal data. Many free networks are funded by tracking what you do online. They log in to the websites, apps you use and your device type, location, and even browsing habits.

In some cases, this data is sold to advertisers, while in worse scenarios, it can be intercepted by hackers sharing the same network. That free coffee shop connection might be silently recording your activity, building a detailed profile of you without your consent.The hidden cost appears in the form of targeted ads, exposure to cyberattacks and loss of control over who has access to your personal information