Cyber Vyber

Wow!!Free Open Wi-Fi Connection…Oops! Could there be an Evil Twin?

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CyberVyber
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The Free Wi-Fi Scenario

When one visits a Public place viz., Coffee shop or a Restaurant or a Railway station, most of the internet (mobile, laptops etc.) users look for a free/complimentary Wifi connection! Don’t we ??

group of friends hanging out
Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com

 

For convenience purpose, the coffee shop owners etc., either keep their Wi-Fi connections open (no password) or publish the Wi-Fi Id (a.k.a. SSID) and password. Little do we know that there is someone Spying on us looking for sensitive information, financial data etc.

angry bad john art black and white emotion
Photo by Jan Prokes on Pexels.com

 

What do the Bad guys do…

The Bad guys or Fraudsters looking for your data have inevitably setup something called as an Evil twin i.e., same Wi-Fi Id/Name (a.k.a. SSID), example – StarCafeFreeWifi. So there are 2 Wi-Fi Ids (hotspots) with the same name…phew! !

Unfortunately, you end up connecting to the Bad guy’s Wi-Fi router (a.k.a Rouge Wi-Fi hotspot) instead of the shop owners Wi-Fi router….

Bang! all your data now streams through the Bad guy’s Wi-Fi router and they capture all your data and look out for sensitive information which could be your private chats, photos or even financial data etc.

woman working girl sitting
Photo by Alexander Dummer on Pexels.com

Arghhhh, What do I do then…?  

Well, you need to ensure that you don’t connect to rogue free Wifi and always use your mobile data. Doesn’t matter if you have to shell out few pennies but it’s better not to use untrusted Wi-Fi network. However, for Privacy and Data Protection reasons, i would strongly recommend using a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Your internet traffic gets encrypted (unreadable format) and even if the Bad guys capture it they won’t don’t understand it. Thus the VPN technology helps you keep safer.

There are quite a few VPN players out there viz.,Express VPN, Nord VPN, Cyberghost, IPVanish etc. It’s comes with some annual cost but along with that you will get peace of mind 🙂 Digital world has done wonders for mankind however some basic care can help you keep safe in this rapidly growing world.

If you like me to publish more such articles then please do like, comment or subscribe to my blog post. If you got any questions please feel free to ask me…

#EvilTwin #CyberSecurityForBeginners

Comments

2 responses to “Wow!!Free Open Wi-Fi Connection…Oops! Could there be an Evil Twin?”

  1. aditya natu Avatar
    aditya natu

    Good informative blog !
    Wasn’t aware that someone can steal your data with such a ‘set up’.
    Only one question, does that mean data can be stolen by even the paid WiFi providers?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. CyberVyber Avatar
      CyberVyber

      Thanks. That’s a very good question.
      If the Wifi owner has bad intentions, then they can sniff or modify your data because all your internet traffic is routed via them.
      Either way, when we register with free WiFi then most of the times,we have to provide email and phone number which can be further exploited for marketing etc.

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