Public Wi-Fi Security Risks As Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2016-05-06
·
972 words · ~4 min read
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ah what could be better than sitting in your favorite coffee shop sipping an
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overpriced latte Chino thing and
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browsing whatever the drama of the day is on Reddit I'll tell you doing it
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securely although public Wi-Fi networks
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are useful for staying connected on the go they're also notorious for being easy
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for attackers to spy on and see a heck
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of a lot more than just the Dank memes that you send to your friends so why are
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these networks so insecure what are some of the common ways they get attacked and
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what can you do to keep prying eyes away from your browsing habits even though
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public Wi-Fi hotspots have been around since the early 2000s and people have
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generally become more aware of online security risks since then there are
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still a number of common vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit for instance
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many public Wi-Fi networks use no password or encryption of any sort in
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which case attackers can see all the traffic on the network and you actually
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don't even need any special hacking skills to do it there are plenty of
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programs floating around that enable spying on unsecured networks with just a
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few Mouse clicks now you might assume that public Wi-Fi that uses WPA2 psk the
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standard data flow encryption in most modern routers is safe and that would be
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true in a home setting as you're only sharing a password with people you trust
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but in a public place like a cafe anyone
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with the password who connects before you do can spy on your handshake the
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communication that occurs between your device and the access point when you
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first connect to the hotspot in this way an attacker can steal your encryption
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key and see all of your traffic even though your connection is encrypted
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public Wi-Fi is also susceptible to something called a man-in-the-middle
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attack which is just what it sounds like
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a bad person sitting in between your device and the internet looking at all
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of your stuff as it flies by many times
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this kind of attacker will set up a fake Wi-Fi hotspot that looks like a legit
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one if you connect to it your internet traffic will go right through the
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attacker's computer possibly allowing them to see whatever you're doing okay
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lonus I get it public Wi-Fi is about as secure as a screen door made of cheap
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but is there any way that I can use it without broadcasting everything I'm
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doing fortunately yes there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself
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number one use https you know that thing that encrypts
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your connection and puts a little lock icon in the corner of your browser many
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websites that require login such as Gmail and Facebook use https by default
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but for sites that don't you can actually download browser extensions
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that Force sites to use an https connection as long as the site supports
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it some of these will also enable sending your cookies over a secure
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connection to prevent cookie theft which you can learn more about here this
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allows your traffic to be unintelligible to attackers even over an unsecured
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Wi-Fi connection or number two use a
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virtual private Network or VPN for more serious security this will create a
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secure tunnel between your device and a proxy server that encrypts all traffic
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even if the site you're visiting doesn't support https vpns are available as both
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free and paid services and often let you
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choose between various tiers of service depending on your needs and finally
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number three make sure to ask the management at whatever establishment
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you're visiting what the name of their actual Wi-Fi network is to avoid
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connecting to a fake access point remember identifying fakes won't always
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be as easy as not connecting to the Shady White van parked outside Wi-Fi
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network and this is related to our topic
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