How often do you use public WiFi hotspots? Do you know that using an unsecured hotspot poses a risk for you?
Oftentimes, unscrupulous individuals target users of unsecured WiFi hotspots. They can track which sites you’re visiting and harvest the information that you use in logging on those sites.
As much as possible, try to use a secured WiFi connection. If you’re going use connections in public places like airports, coffee shops or restaurants, be sure to change your network connection settings to “public network.”
Why should you change from Home or Office Network to Public Network when connecting in public networks? When you set your connection settings to “Public Network,” your system automatically turns off the file and printer sharing on your computer. If the file and printer sharing is on, files and printers that you have shared from your computer can be accessed by the people in the network – exactly the kind of opportunity that hackers take advantage of.
It’s also advantageous to third party VPN (virtual private network) products for additional identity protection while web-surfing in public networks. Just like the phrase suggests, VPN creates a virtual private network between your computer and the network so it remains secured against hackers and data snoopers when you’re using a public hotspot.
thanks sis for this helpful post ako kasi connect ng connect eh without knowing the risk ;(
Thank you for this helpful info, Sheryl. I don’t usually connect to public WiFi but I think I did when we traveled the other weekend and I borrowed the laptop of a friend. He was connecting to public wifi. I just don’t know if his connections settings was “Public network.” Next time, I’d be more careful.