Patrick Domingues

Well as the title implies, Morons Use Public WiFi! Sorry, not Sorry. I am getting straight to the point and ripping off the band-aid. You are a moron if you use public WiFi and its probably not your fault but this day in age there is no excuse and these 7 reasons below will tell you why you should stay off Public WiFi.  

1. The Man-in-the-middle Attack

One of the most common types of Wi-Fi security threats is the man-in-the-middle attack. This is where hackers intercepts data through techniques to eavesdrop on you. The hackers will intercept and relay messages between two different points which makes it appear everything is normal, but in reality, the attacker is controlling the entire communication.

2. Attack cloning 

Here is a simple and one of my favorite tricks. The hackers would divert your internet traffic to a cloned site. The technical term for this is DNS spoofing and you can be easily tricked into logging into a seemingly legit site. Without being aware, you’ve just willingly handed over your login information to an attacker.

3. The Holy Grail of One password

It’s pretty common for us to use the same email address for all of online needs. This creates a problem because a hacker simply has to steal your email address and password whenever you sign in on a public WiFi network and with this information they can request lost passwords from the websites you visit and If they have access to your inbox hackers can automate a type of Bcc to themselves for any incoming email.

4. Other users may be infected

Let’s say that you are browsing along on some websites at your local coffee shop, but the other free wifi user does not have malware protection. They just put your device in danger to worms. This is basically when a virus jumps from one device to another. Worse than a cold.

5. Rogue Wi-Fi networks and access points

When you connect to a WiFi connection that is listed as, “Free Public WiFi” in places like a park or airport, hackers are waiting to gain unauthorized access to your information because these networks look legit. When you login into these fake networks, hackers now have access to your sensitive data. Similar situation with the Rogue access points which are just access points installed on a preexisting network. These are frequently found with wireless routers where a well-meaning employee installs a router in order for customers to access to the Wi-Fi network and unfortunately, most of these networks aren’t configured properly as they leave the default login credentials unchanged. 

6. Shoulder surfing

You must know what this is, someone being super nosy about your business and looking over your shoulder. They just set-up shop with many people around and look over your shoulder so that they can steal your login information. It’s not common anymore but it’s definitely a tactic these hackers can use.

7. Free Wi-Fi isn’t secure

There are plenty of free WiFi networks and yes, even at your favorite coffee shop does care to go about adding the latest encryption technology. The reason being is that network security can be expensive. Even though they may have good in intentions, they are unwittingly putting their customers in harm’s way.

So with that said, unless you are paying for VPN Software do yourself a favor and stay off public WiFi. 

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Patrick Domingues

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