The Dark Side of Public Wi-fi

It started out as a service that was going to be used by cashiers, under the odd name WaveLAN, in the early 1990s. Ten years from there, standards were imposed, and it started popping up here and there. It never really took to our liking until the folks from the “bitten-off” fruit introduced AirPort. Say what you will, but they do make great products, so people started noticing—and thus Wi-Fi was born, and then free Wi-Fi. One of the greatest single moves in coffee history.

We love free—who doesn’t? But free Wi-Fi is not always as it seems. Being part of a network that is open to all, you are bound to run into a problem or two. Remember, you get what you pay for.

What Is the Greatest Risk That Comes With Free Wi-Fi?

The major risk you take when connecting to public Wi-Fi is security. You become very open to attacks from absolutely anyone. The most common way that a hacker can get information from your system is through what is called a man-in-the-middle attack. No, it’s not a classic Michael Jackson song. It’s a way for the hacker to position himself between your system and the real Wi-Fi, thereby making him the man in the middle.

There are many ways that this can be done. There are even devices available on the market today for exactly this purpose. Basically, the hacker will create a Wi-Fi network that is similar to the real public Wi-Fi, or even exactly the same. He then positions himself near you and turns on his device. You’ve seen the setting on your phone or computer that connects to the strongest available network and remembers the password? What is stronger than an actual device situated just a table away from you? Once your laptop or phone decides it is a network it has used before and knows how to connect to, you are hooked.

In this case, all your information will go through the hacker first before actually going to the internet. Everything you do online will be tracked:

• Social media
• Emails
• Banking information
• Login information
• Forms you fill out
• Ad preferences
• Sites you visit

This information can be taken and used in a variety of ways:

• Recorded and used later for personal gain.
• Used for ransom, especially if you are a company executive.
• Used for spoofing—the hacker can pretend to be you.
• The hacker can enter the systems you used with your credentials, potentially damaging your work.
• Your social media life may be on the ropes once they use your logins; they can even wipe your phone through your Gmail or iCloud account.
• Personal information is at risk as well.

How to Protect Yourself on Public Wi-Fi

Knowing that there are great risks involved, there are also ways that you can stay protected on public Wi-Fi. Here are six tips to stay safe:

1. Use secure connections. These are sites that include encryption when they ask you for data. Say a site is asking you to log in and you type ABCDEF on your computer. When the website takes this information from your end, it encrypts it. So instead of ABCDEF it could look like 112233445566 to anyone who is snooping, like our hacker. The website then receives your info, decrypts it with a key specific to you, and reads it as ABCDEF.
2. Two-factor authentication for logins. This ensures that you use two things to log in: usually your normal username and password plus an authentication device like your phone or a two-factor USB key such as a YubiKey. Even if the hacker sees your info, he would still need your physical key or phone to log in as you.
3. Stop device sharing. There is a feature on phones and even computers that allows sharing of files across a network. Turning this off means the hacker cannot send you malware that can go in and dig through your system.
4. Do not browse important sites. Do not log in to email, do not go to social media, and don’t do your banking or bills.
5. Use a VPN if it is important office work. This makes your connection private inside a public network.
6. Turn Wi-Fi off on your devices when you’re done. This way you don’t auto-connect to networks in places you’ve been, like cafés and airports.

If it really is important and unavoidable, better to use your phone’s data instead—or just follow our tips. Get yourself protected.

If you are worried that you or any of your employees have been hacked on public Wi-Fi, give us a call at Boom Logic—we deal with hackers every day. We can tell you if you have been compromised and help get you and everyone at your work safe from online threats.