Starbucks Wi-Fi is dangerous and how you can best play it safe

You’ve probably heard that using public Wi-Fi puts you at risk of being hacked, but what specifically opens you up for attack? Could my email be accessed? My banking information? The naughty videos I’ve favorited on Tumblr? The short answer is yes. Here are some common ways a malicious attacker may try to gain access to your information and some tips on how to best avoid it.



An attacker can watch all the websites you visit

When you are on a public Wi-Fi network, like those in Starbucks, everyone connected to that Wi-Fi network has access to all internet traffic of everyone else on the network… Did you hear that? EVERYONE! Even if that network requires you to accept some terms of service, even if that network is password protected! That means, right now, you could follow some simple steps that would allow you to see all the sites that everyone on that Wi-Fi network is visiting and for any of those sites that are not Secure, you would be able to see a person’s username and passwords too.

Sources and additional reading/watching:

How safe is WiFi at Starbucks? Is SafeWeb good?
https://www.quora.com/How-safe-is-WiFi-at-Starbucks-Is-SafeWeb-good

Starbucks cafe’s wi-fi made computers mine crypto-currency
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42338754

Encryption: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjZ2r9Ygzw