Are you travelling abroad? Think before joining a public WiFi network

Whether you’re jetting off overseas or visiting a public spot in the town or city you should always take caution when connecting to a WiFi network.

Cyber crime can take place anywhere without you even knowing it!

You could be hanging around in an airport or sitting in a restaurant or coffee shop and you could be the next victim.

Here are some useful tips to help you stay safe

• Always use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Check out our other blog on how a VPN protects you.
• Go into your WiFi settings and turn off automatic connectivity to open networks
• Install anti-virus software across all of your internet accessible devices
• Ensure your firewall is turned on
• Run the latest software updates
• Don’t share sensitive data (unless encrypted)
• Turn off file sharing
• Use two factor authentication

Public WiFi Networks

Cyber criminals can replicate the name of a WiFi network to trick people.

For instance, if there is a WiFi network called ‘Starbucks’ and another one called ‘Starbucks Customer WiFi’ how would you know that you are connecting to the legitimate one?

Once you have connected to the network they can gather all your details from websites you sign into and then go on to commit cyber crime.

You might log into PayPal or your banking website for instance. The criminal will then have your credentials and may start trying your details across multiple other websites and as most people are guilty of using the same username/ password they could access plenty of other places with your details.

The scale of cyber crime is on the constant rise so you need to be smart and vigilant if you want to avoid falling victim.