The coffee shop WiFi that taught me about public networks

Back in 2017 I was at a Starbucks in Portland and logged into their free WiFi to check my bank account. A guy sitting two tables over stood up, walked right over, and told me I was broadcasting my login info plain as day because the network wasn't encrypted. He wasn't trying to steal anything, just warning me, but it scared me straight. Now I never log into anything important on public WiFi without a VPN, and I tell everyone I know to do the same. Has anyone else had a close call like that on a public network?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason.anna9d ago

Oh yeah, I had a similar wake up call back in 2018. I was checking my email on the library WiFi and my friend's boyfriend who works in IT just stared at me from across the table. He showed me how easy it was to see everything I was doing with some free tool on his laptop. Now I use a VPN EVERY time I connect to any public network, and I also make sure to turn off file sharing and set the network to "public" in my settings. That way your device doesn't let anyone else see what you're doing.

jordanc689d ago

Yeah turning off file sharing is key, I never even thought about that before.