According to research, around 24.7 percent of public Wi-Fi hotspots around the world don’t use any sort of encryption
Press Release – updated: Mar 20, 2019 17:00 EDT
HONG KONG, March 20, 2019 (Newswire.com) – ​The convenience of public Wi-Fi and initiatives like RailWire is undeniable. After all, it allows users to enjoy Internet connectivity on the go without spending a dime. But given their open nature and lack of security measures, public Wi-Fi networks don’t come without their fair share of downsides.
Public Wi-Fi is a hacker’s playground because they can easily capture Wi-Fi traffic and use the data to their advantage. Even if a network requires credentials to log in, conducting banking transactions without using encryption can have disastrous consequences.
The last thing anybody would want is a stolen identity or have their hard-earned money taken in unauthorized transactions. The main question here is: How do hackers use public Wi-Fi to gain access to sensitive user data?
Two Most Common Public Wi-Fi Threats
One way these perpetrators can gain full access to users’ banking traffic is through rogue access points. These mimic legitimate hotspots provided by nearby businesses, and once someone connects to them, the bad guys get complete access to all data being transmitted.
Man-in-the-middle attacks are another method, and consist of a hacker standing in between the communications of two parties, i.e. the user and the public Wi-Fi. Since the traffic sent and received goes through the malicious actor and then the network, they can view sensitive banking data.
Experience Secure Banking with a VPN
Most experts recommend to not perform sensitive activities like banking on public Wi-Fi without the protection of a WiFi VPN. Basically, it secures a user’s Internet traffic using strong encryption algorithms, making it difficult for hackers to get their hands on their banking data.
Moreover, it also replaces the original IP address of a user with one from the VPN provider. This provides a certain degree of anonymity on the Internet; cyber thieves will be able to notice the use of a VPN, but won’t be able to see what activities are taking place.
Source: PureVPN
