56% of People Don’t Use VPNs on Public WiFi

Public WiFi can often be quite useful because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up keeping you well connected during travels. However, it can also be a pretty significant security risk. Public WiFi connections are notorious for being prone to cyber attacks, since hackers can take advantage of the public nature of the connection to gain access to your devices without you even realizing it.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use public WiFi. People traveling over the holidays will often have extended layovers, and it is expected that 113 million people will be on the move during the Christmas season. That makes it rather necessary to use public WiFi to pass the time, and using a VPN can make it a lot safer than might have been the case otherwise.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, a recent survey of 1,000 Americans revealed that over half of them, or 56% to be precise, don’t use any VPN while accessing public internet connections. What’s even worse is that 41% reported that they don’t have any security software on their systems whatsoever, which makes it considerably more dangerous to connect to a public WiFi with all things having been considered and taken into account. The main reason for this behavior according to respondents is that they want to save some money by limiting the cellular data usage.

Hackers use a bunch of tricks to get people to give them illicit access to their systems. They are aware that travelers will be on the lookout for free WiFi, and they would therefore set up their own connections with names that would trick you into thinking that their WiFi is the one that you should be using. If you were to connect to this WiFi, you may lose access to a ton of personal data within minutes.

The best way to avoid this is to go for the connection that is closest to where you are. Don’t hesitate to ask a customer service representative at the airport or coffee shop about what their WiFi is named and whether or not it is free. USB charging stations should also be avoided due to the risks they pose.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World