Why Public Wifi is Dangerous – Is It Really?

A lot has been made about the potential dangers that come with connecting to a public Wifi connection. We are not even asking a question here. We’re just going to let you know why public wifi is dangerous. The way that we see it though all internet usage has the potential to get dangerous. It’s kind of like saying that certain places are dangerous. Sure, they may be, but walking down the street at 12 noon, and 12 midnight isn’t the same at all. Essentially a big part of this article will be focused on how you can make sure that you are always walking down the street at noon, and not midnight. 

In answering why public Wifi is dangerous we want to talk about the real dangers that you could be facing. The issue with cybersecurity is that you think that nothing is going to happen until it does. Now, that doesn’t mean that you should be running scared of public wifi networks. There are actually some pretty safe networks out there. Particularly because the people who run them have taken steps to try and protect the users. At the end of the day though, many of these things come down to having decent common sense. There are certain things that you don’t want to be doing when you’re on a public wifi network. We also understand that there are instances where you won’t have much of a choice. When that’s the case there are also things that you can do to stay safe. 

• Why Public Wifi is Dangerous – What Can Happen
• How Likely Is It That You’ll Have An Issue? 
• Does This Mean You Shouldn’t Use Free Wifi? 
• Why Public Wifi is Dangerous – Staying Safe
• These Are Not Issues That You’ll Have Using Your Regular Data?
• Where You Use Public Wifi May Matter 

Why Public Wifi is Dangerous – What Can Happen

When talking about cybersecurity one of the biggest issues is that people don’t really get what the big fuss is about until something happens to them. Then you start understanding some of the risks involved with using public wifi or just being careless overall with where you share your data online. The worst case scenario is that you get your accounts hacked or traced or whatever it may be. If you happen to have credit card data saved on your account then credit card fraud is one of the main issues that you are going to have to worry about. Oddly enough that may not be the worst case scenario. We say this because if you can prove to the bank that you didn’t make the purchase you can get the money back.  

If however, you get hacked and you lose access to your Gmail account for example, getting access back can be a real problem. By which point, whoever had access to your account could have potentially deleted personal data, and also taken all sorts of private information from your account. We are kind of torn here at this point, because we don’t just want to say that you should never be using public wifi. There are moments where you may not even have much of a choice. Just know though that these two scenarios encapsulate virtually the worst things that can happen to you on a public network. 

How Likely Is It That You’ll Have An Issue? 

We already talked about the worst case scenario. Now we want to tackle the likelihood that something is going to happen to you. Here’s the thing, there are a ton of people that use public wifi on a daily basis. We are talking about a number that is well in the millions. Naturally, most of the people that use public wifi are going to be able to do so without really having any type of trouble. That’s the biggest problem that we see and why public Wifi is dangerous. Ultimately, it’s one of those things that is largely based on luck. You can go years without anything happening, but one day you get hacked, and it turns out to be one of the worst days of your life.  

In trying to do some research for this part we found information on some of the biggest hacks of email accounts  a year. Yearly there are literally billions of email accounts that are hacked. Granted, a lot of these are part of massive hacking efforts in which the servers for Yahoo mail, and other email providers got hit. That’s not necessarily a public Wifi issue. However, it is a possibility that using your devices on poor quality wifi can put you at a greater risk of getting hit. Luckily there are things that you can do to get the best of both worlds. Access the public wifi in a safer manner. 

Does This Mean You Shouldn’t Use Free Wifi? 

We actually have articles on this site where we literally encourage people to use public wifi options when they travel. Therefore, coming out and saying that you should outright boycott this coverage option would be overly hypocritical. We did though go back and forth on what the best advice could be. Ideally we would’ve liked to say that it’s a good idea to pick your spots right. Like if you go to your local gym or coffee spot and you trust the people who run it then you could be safe there. Maybe when you are going to a new place it could be wiser to proceed with caution. That’s not necessarily true though. The reason why public wifi is dangerous isn’t necessarily because the people who run the network are crooks.     

With that in mind the best piece of advice that we can give is that if you are going to be using public wifi the smartest thing to do is to be protected. You can be protected through a VPN network. In these situations we could say that it adds a layer of protection that you wouldn’t have if you just accessed the network normally. It’s kind of like in some of the other scenarios where you’re advised to use protection. Yes, you could access the network a million times and be fine. You just need that one time though for things to go wrong for you to wish that you were protected.  

Why Public Wifi is Dangerous – Staying Safe

The VPN option is one that we already threw out there. Does this mean that it’s the only way to stay safe? Not necessarily, but it is the most practical way to stay safe on a public wifi network. There are a couple of things that we wanted to point out about public networks. Not all of them are going to be the same. Therefore, staying safe in these different networks can apply differently if you will. If you go to your local Starbucks, and you have to get a wifi password to access the network does that make it safer? It certainly particularly if they are switching the password constantly. That doesn’t mean that someone on the network won’t try some fishy business. Therefore, avoiding certain sites while in these spots is a good idea. 

Other types of spots that provide public wifi networks like hotels may be a heck of a whole lot safer. Particularly ones that have some type of access method. We couldn’t necessarily consider some of these networks open even. Still, we felt the need to make the distinction. Just so that you wouldn’t feel afraid to use the hotel wifi. Granted all of this depends on where you are staying. Some hotels out there do feature open public wifi. If that’s the case where you’re staying you’re going to want to use a VPN during your stay. 

These Are Not Issues That You’ll Have Using Your Regular Data?

Technically no, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be hacked for example when you’re using your regular data. What it does mean is that you are limiting the number of avenues where threats can come from. When you use an open network there are essentially two places where data theft can come from. Someone with access to the network that is using software to hack into your device. The second threat is going to come directly from the apps, and websites that you visit. As well as the links and things that you click on when you’re surfing the web. When you are using your regular phone data from a service provider someone would have to technically hack into the whole let’s say Verizon or T-Mobile network. The worst thing though is that this is technically something that has happened.  

Let’s try and wrap this one up because we can really head down a never ending rabbit hole here if we’re not careful. Essentially while on a public wifi network you are opening yourself up to attacks from another front. Not just the regular front that you are battling daily. Which has to do with the sites that you visit and the apps that you use. In simple terms, you should be safer on your regular data. Even if you can’t necessarily be guaranteed safety by your regular service provider.    

Where You Use Public Wifi May Matter 

This is something that we sort of brushed upon. Ultimately, it is hard to say that you are more at risk in certain places because that can really be taken the wrong way for sure. Especially if we would sit here and list certain countries or places where we would deem public wifi as dangerous. What we are just going to say is that you have to use personal judgment to try and figure out which spots you may feel safe in, and which other areas you may want to protect yourself in. Being on a public wifi network in a public library with no one around may be safer than the crowded bus stop wifi that you got when you were traveling in any country that you visited recently.    

It’s not that we don’t want to talk about specific places just because we don’t want to be labeled haters of anyone. It’s just that to be honest there are no guarantees that the public wifi in a nice looking spot is inherently safer than what you can find in any public plaza across the globe. Unless maybe you know for a fact that the people in a particular spot have taken steps to make sure that their network is safer. At the end of the day we encourage you to be a picky wifi chooser. If you have to use public wifi it may be a good idea to not access certain sites on it, and not use it for an extended period. 

Why Public Wifi is Dangerous – Conclusion

The worst thing about internet security is that you don’t think that anything is ever going to happen until it happens to you. When something does happen it’s really hard to feel truly free when you’re innocently surfing the web. What we suggest is that you take the precautions that you deem necessary. Ideally though we do feel it’s important to find a balance in being careful, and being scared. We don’t want to make it sound like using public wifi without any type of protection is playing russian roulette. At the same time, there are some unnecessary risks that people take all of the time and then they are surprised when something happens. 

Your phone, and other devices that you may use regularly can contain a ton of personal information. More so than even before. If you are going to save your credit card details on your Google account for example, then why not go the extra mile to make sure that account is secure? The least that you can do is add a two step verification method to access the account. As far as why public wifi is dangerous, the real reason may be that today there’s a lot more to lose from cyber attacks. Compared to what could happen to you even 5 or 10 years ago. Let that one sink in!