Are you using public Wi-Fi? If your answer is “No” you will be safe. If you do use the public WiFi your data in the phone or laptop is in an insecure position. The public WiFi may contain some harmful element which will keep the secure data of the user at risk.
The WiFi which is freely available in publicly accessible spaces is the service provided by the government, community organizations and commercial businesses. Now you may get that am talking about the WiFi provided in public places like buses, airports, shopping centers, train stations, cafes, and public libraries.
You may have doubts that what kind of data from your device is under threat? The public WiFi will affect not only the current data on the device, but also it will affect the past data on the device.
Action should be taken to secure your data from a public WiFi
- The best way to secure your data from public WiFi is to use a virtual private network (VPN). Traditionally available only for desktops and laptops, many VPN providers now produce mobile apps. If you connect without VPN, all your internet traffic is sent from your device through an encrypted tunnel to the provider’s endpoint. There is a software available on smartphones that will enable a VPN to start automatically when connecting to a public Wi-Fi hotspot.
- If you are not using a VPN configured device, make sure that your connected website URL should be HTTPS and not HTTP. You also make sure the entire session remains encrypted while you are browsing. Some sites that will encrypt your login and then send you to an HTTP connection, which will put your data under a risk so browse those some sites that will provide you with the option of encrypting the whole session.
- Hacker is setting up a public Wi-Fi hotspot of their own near the site of the public Wi-Fi which is provided by the government or some community with a similar name. If you are using the hacker’s network, that will enable them to monitor the traffic from your device. To avoid this, always make sure that the exact name of the hotspot provided by the community hosting it. Also, make sure you do not see two access points with the same name.
- When connecting to the public WiFi hotspot, you need to turn off the file sharing option from the system preference or control panel. And avoid using a file transfer protocol or any other protocol to transfer data without VPN.
- Install antivirus for your Android, iPad or any other device you’re using with a public hotspot. Activate the firewall on your device to prevent the malware function from an infected device that is using to share the hotspot with you.
If there is a case, you have only one option to use unsecured public WiFi hotspot, Understanding the risk and safety measures may protect you from hackers. These steps are easy and could save your data.
Hackers can hack your data from many ways, using public Wi-Fi is one of those ways. Some Cyber experts say selling old smartphones may take a big risk to you. Even if you erase all data, hackers can recover it by using special software.
I Hope this article may be useful and will help in keeping your data on your devices safe. FuGenX is one of the leading Mobile App Development Companies Sharjah, which provides services on Android, iOS app development and mobile game development all over the world.