Hi, welcome to this latest video from Cloudwards.
My name is Mauricio and this video is all about public WiFi and whether or not it’s
safe to use.
Before we get to any of that, though, I’d like to remind you of that thumbs up button
as well as that big old bell that will subscribe you to our channel.
Now, let’s talk WiFi.
We’ve all used public WiFi at some point.
Say you’re at the coffee shop and want to check your email or you’re waiting to get
your hair cut and so you want to read something else than those magazines they have there;
in each case you will likely want to save your phone’s data and so you sign into the
WiFi that’s been made available by the establishment.
So far, cool and normal.
But here’s the problem: even if the people behind the coffeeshop or the hairdressing
salon are completely above board, there are lots of things that can go wrong for you while
using public WiFi.
Though you should never discount the fact that your barber may be a cybercriminal mastermind....
At the top of the list of public Wifi risks is one we’re thankfully seeing less and
less of over the past few years, which is open or unsecured networks.
These are networks where you can just connect without any kind of password whatsoever.
I mean, you probably know using one of those is a terrible idea just by using your common
sense, but an unsecured network is also a prime candidate for falling victim for so-called
man in the middle attacks.
As the name implies, a man in the middle attack is one where a cybercriminal places himself
between you and the network, siphoning off your data.
Due to the nature of the attack, which is super stealthy, a successful one can mean
a lot of your data gets stolen, pretty much anything you handled in that particular browsing
session as well as anything else if the hacker manages to install some malware on your laptop.
Man in the middle attacks are very serious, not only because of what gets stolen, but
also how easy they are to set up, even on secured public networks.
For the full overview, check out the full article we’ve published on this subject,
which I’ve linked to in the description below.
However, as dangerous as man in the man in the middle attacks may be, there’s a very
simple solution that will keep you safe and pretty much nullify any hacking attempt while
you’re on public WiFi, and that’s a VPN or virtual private network.
These handy little programs don’t just keep your browsing private and unlock streaming,
they’re also one of the more important tools if you want to protect yourself from hacking
attempts like this.
It does so by rerouting your traffic to a third party server and encrypting that route
in a so-called tunnel, meaning hackers have no way of getting in, so to speak.
Generally speaking you can get a VPN starting from just a few dollars per month, so they’re
just a small investment if you’re using a lot of public WiFi, say if you’re a freelancer
or travel around.
Simply engaging a VPN when using a public WiFI network is enough to keep you safe, which
is probably why so many VPNs have special switches installed that make it spring into
action as soon as it detects that you’re on a public network.
Our favorite VPN is ExpressVPN, with NordVPN hot on its heels, so I recommend you check
them both out via the links I’ve pasted below to see which one suits you best.
Hopefully this brief introduction is enough to warn you away from using public WiFi without
a VPN.
Going unprotected onto the internet is just asking for trouble, so we recommend you do
what you can to keep yourself safe.
My name was Mauricio, thank you for watching, and please don’t forget to like and subscribe.
Stay safe out there!