I finally locked down my home network after that incident at the coffee shop last week

I was working at BrewHouse in Portland last Tuesday and their guest WiFi was acting up, so I hopped on their open network to check my email. Big mistake. Someone on that same network tried to ARP spoof my laptop and I only caught it because my IDS started screaming at me. Got home that night and spent 3 hours setting up VLANs for all my IoT stuff and a proper firewall rule set for my home lab. Has anyone else had close calls on public WiFi that pushed them to finally lock things down?

3 comments

3 Comments

carter.julia1mo ago

VPN on the phone before you hit join network. WireGuard back to your home server or a cheap VPS. Takes 30 seconds to set up and kills ARP spoofing dead. Also disable file sharing and automatic network discovery when you leave the house. Those are the two settings that get people into trouble more than anything.

coleman.christopher1mo ago

Keep network discovery and file sharing off at all times outside your house.

juliam401mo ago

Watch your Bluetooth too - most people forget that's an open door on public networks.