Public wifi and you
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO KEEP YOUR DATA AND PRIVACY PROTECTED WHILE BROWSING IN A PUBLIC PLACE
Here is what you need to know to keep your data and privacy protected |
Picture this. It’s a Friday morning and you’re hanging out at your favourite beachfront cafe or your neighbourhood public park.
While sipping on your latte or relaxing after a 5-km run, you catch up on all the emails and social media chatter you couldn’t quite grasp during your busy week — thanks to the burgeoning network of public WiFis across the UAE. Sounds familiar?
With an array of smart services and a rapidly widening information technology network, accessing the internet or checking out social media for free, while you are on the move in the UAE, is a typical scenario for most of us. But did you know of the threats that lurk in the background on public WiFi — such as cyber snoopers stealing your credit card and bank data or hacking into your family pictures and emails?
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in UAE recently issued a warning, advising UAE residents to use public WiFi with caution. “When using your devices in public areas, do not leave your data visible to those around you,” the TRA said on Twitter. “While you are in public areas, beware of your personal information.”
Cyber security experts have warned that many free public WiFi areas are not encrypted and are prime targets for hackers to access information on your computer or smartphone. Cyber criminals can also easily hack users’ personal data from a public WiFi network as the security is weak.
Dimitris Raekos, general manager for ESET Middle East, told Gulf News that there are two types of public WiFi — openaccess and those with a password. Open public WiFi is the one that everybody can get access to without having to enter a password, while the other one is more common in hotels and cafes — and the passwords change every day or hour. Despite these, Raekos said that a hacker could still obtain a user’s information using a mobile phone or a computer. Hackers can intercept communications between two participants by creating his own, illegal connections through the WiFi hotspots. “The bad guys can extract information out of your laptops or smartphones after someone joins the fake network,” he said.
According to Nicolai Solling, chief technology officer at Help AG, any public infrastructure can put residents at risk. “[It] is, in the meaning of the word — public — and this constitutes specific issues as you may be subject to certain attacks, where attackers can inject themselves into the traffic flow of your communications,” Solling told Gulf News. “Tech-savvy users should be able to spot such attacks, but for the normal consumer they can be challenging to identify. Therefore, my advice is simply to use public WiFi for recreational purposes, but leave the sensitive stuff until you are back home.”
There are software and hardware tools available in the market for people to buy and learn how to hack a public WiFi. There are even videos on YouTube that show how to hack a network. “When accessing a public WiFi, use a firewall or a good security software that can detect a scammer. Never access any type of personal information such as your bank account, social network pages or
Tech-savvy users should be able to spot such attacks, but for the normal consumer they can be challenging to identify.” Nicolai Solling | chief technology officer at Help AG
The bad guys can extract information out of your laptops or smartphones after someone joins the fake network.” Dimitris Raekos | General manager for ESET Middle East
even email accounts on a public WiFi,” he said.
According to a 2013 study by Forrester Consulting, about nine in ten (90 per cent) travellers “overwhelmingly” want WiFi connections at hotels. About a third (34 per cent) said that a wireless service in their rooms is a deal breaker, meaning they won’t book a stay with the hotel if it’s not available, while 60 per cent consider it as “important”.