How does Free Wi-Fi steal your money
Last updated on May 19th, 2017 in News
A new kind of virtual fraud opens the access to your personal data, including photos, correspondence and passwords from payment systems while you are using free Wi-Fi.
Swindlers create fake networks with familiar names such as McDonalds_Free_WiFi or Starbucks_Net, so that anyone who has connected to the public network is at risk. And while you are spending the saved megabytes under a cup of American, they are spending real money – yours.
Today, there are many applications in open access which can steal data that you transmit or receive through the public network. It takes a few seconds to find out the model of your gadget (iPhone 7, MacBook Pro, HTC or Dell Inspiron 576), to read all messages in messengers, to view your photos or to take your account to Call Of Duty (!).
That is, an imposter barges in your device and invisibly wanders, sweeping away everything that gets on the Network.
It is important to understand that even powerful protection like ones used in applications of banks and virtual wallets does not save here. An attacker acts on a different level, where you yourself, without knowing it, give him or her passwords and access. This is like you enter the pin-code of your card loudly shouting it out: it’s better not to try.
To avoid accident:
1. Turn off Wi-Fi when you are not using it. So, the device will not connect to dangerous networks without your knowledge.
2. If you often use public access points because of a weak signal – change your provider.
3. In institutions, do not look for Wi-Fi yourself: ask the staff for the network name and password. Be careful: Starbucks and Starrbucks are two different networks. The presence of both in one place is a mark of suspicion.
4. Try not to conduct any serious transactions through public networks, especially related to bill payment.
5. Do not connect to unknown networks. Regardless of whether passwordless Wi-Fi or a system with a password it is.
6. Protect your connection with a private VPN network, which is organized above any connection. Your information in this case is not passed in public, as in the case of public access, but like through a “tunnel,” while coding everything you do, ranging from what you enter to where you enter, defending against the extern world with a separate password that is known only to you and the reception point (for example, to the banking system or the recipient of your information). At this moment, this is the most reliable and simplest way to protect information when using public networks. The level of traffic coding is such that the existing supercomputers would need hundreds of years to decrypt it!
You can connect the VPN-network free, but with limited functions. The best option for starting is to try a paid network in a free test mode, and then decide how convenient it is for you.
You might think that you have nothing to hide, but take your time. Maybe, you do not have photos of bare Nikki Minage’s, but it would be not pleasant to see 0 on your Visa Classic account.
So, remember these simple tips and share this text with your friends and family. It will take you one second, and you can save hundreds of dollars!
