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HOW TO PROTECT YOUR DEVICE WHEN USING PUBLIC WI-FI

The use of public wi-fi may expose you to some threats and increase your devices’ vulnerability. Some threats associated with the use of public Wi-Fi include:

  • Data Breaches: confidential information such as credit card details, emails and other private data can be hijacked by a hacker and utilized for malicious reasons. Acquisition of this data can be achieved through Man-in-the-Middle Attacks whereby data may be hijacked, while in transit between a client and a server, by a hacker. Public and/or free wi-fi networks can be easily hijacked by hackers to successfully conduct Man-in-the-middle attacks to breach such confidential data. Furthermore, unencrypted networks are susceptible to this form of attacks.
  • Malware infections: codes developed by malicious entities to capitalize on software vulnerabilities allows introduction of malware to your device through unsuspecting pop ups, etc. which display unsuspecting content, that upon clicking on, introduces malware to your device. Public and/or free wi-fi can be easily hijacked by attackers to distribute such malicious codes to users that connect.
  • Packet Sniffing: through this process hackers are able to view your online activities gaining access to confidential data. Packet data flowing through a public and/or free wi-fi networks which an attacker has control over can be sniffed and further analyzed. This function may be used to monitor and evaluate network traffic but hackers use it for their own malicious intent.

To protect yourself against these threats it is advisable to:

  1. Keep away from unkonwn public and/or free wi-fi networks.
  2. Use a virtual private network such as Nord VPN, Express VPN, Surf shark, VeePN, etc. to encrypt and secure your connections.
  3. Only visit sites encrypted using HTTPS to ensure access to secure sites. To ensure a site is secure, check to confirm if the initials HTTPS are written at the beginning of a web address or a padlock icon is displayed.
  4. Turn off Wi-Fi when you don’t require its usage.
  5. Turn off Bluetooth, and File Sharing when not in use.