As the world becomes more reliant on internet connection for every day tasks, staying away from unsecure connections is more important than ever.
Take public Wi-Fi for instance. As Matt Frederick, Ben Bowlin, and Noel Brown point out on their podcast, Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know, even though free Wi-Fi has become common in everyday life, it poses a massive security risk.
“It’s because there is an illusion to safety, we see the same thing when people are traveling at high speeds on the highway,” said Brown. “The convenience of Wi-Fi, just like the convenience of driving on the interstate, leads us to mistakenly believe that it has to be safe because everyone else is doing it.”
We will leave the technical breakdown to the hosts, but the bottom line according to Frederick is that Wi-Fi hacking tools, and articles on how to use them, are easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Once someone uses one of those tools to break into a Wi-Fi network that is not password protected, they can observe the activity of anyone else using the network.
“Once you break that security you can just run amuck,” said Frederick.
This isn’t to say that every coffee shop Wi-Fi network is going to have someone nearby trying to steal your information, he added. However, as he also points out, there is no way to know what dangers are lying in wait in these public internet outlets.
So what can you do to protect yourself while using the free Wi-Fi at your favorite cafe? The three hosts recommend a virtual private network, most commonly known as a VPN. These programs give wireless devices a private network to operate on and protect them from any prying eyes on a public network.
If reading about VPNs made your head feel fuzzy, don’t worry there is another safe practice to put into place. As Bowlin puts it, when using public Wi-Fi assume everyone else in the building can see your screen. Do not login to your bank account, social media, or any other site with sensitive information.
To hear the full breakdown of public Wi-Fi threats, VPNs, and other technical talk, check out the latest episode of Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know, “Free Wi-Fi: Gambling With Your Privacy,” on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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