“Connecting personal or business devices to a hotel’s wireless network,” says the FBI, “may allow malicious actors to compromise the individual’s device and then access the business network of the guest’s employer.” Many people forget that public Wi-Fi can be dangerous and become complacent when it comes to connecting without a thought about the security risks.”Īnd if we use these public Wi-Fi networks while working away from offices under coronavirus restrictions, then we risk compromising our employers’ networks and data, not just our own.

But its free Wi-Fi might not always be what you expect. “With more remote working than ever,” ESET’s Jake Moore says, “it may be tempting for a change of scenery to use a coffee shop. “I was in a hotel lobby,” Wright says, “I setup my ‘free’ hotspot and had five devices connect in a matter of minutes.”

But, in reality, no special equipment is needed. Worse, your iPhone is constantly searching for familiar Wi-Fi networks, “sending out probes for hotspots it is looking to connect to,” Wright says, “so can stand-up hotspots with those SSIDs-a capability built into Wi-Fi Pineapples,” malicious routers designed to intercept traffic. And your phone will happily connect when in range, if you have connected to the legitimate network with that SSID before.

Also, since they are public and open, it makes spoofing them all too easy.” What he means is that an attacker can set up their own Wi-Fi hotspot with that same SSID-it’s as easy as that. “I’d avoid auto-joining any public network,” Wright says.

Iphone hotspot with vpn