How To Stay Safe When Using Public Wi-Fi? 9 Awesome Tactics to Remain Safe with Public Wi-Fi Networks

By Ravi Kumar - Saturday 27 December 2014 No Comments
Who does not like things that are available for free? It feels really good when you do not have to pay for the things that you are using. But be aware. Not everything which is available for free is good for you. Hence it is important for you to keep your eyes open and be conscious about what all you are going to do. For example, there are a number of free public WI-Fi hotspots but not every hotspot provides protection like your home network provides you.



Your notebook, your smart phones and your tablets offer your default settings that keep you safe from all prying eyes while you are on the way. If you really want to keep your files and information secured, here are some essential tips that will help you in protecting your documents and files secured when you are away from your home.


       Turn Off Sharing
You must be sharing your music library, printers or files or even you will be allowing remote login from other computers on your personal Wi-Fi network at home. If you do not disable these settings before you share any other public Wi-Fi network, anyone else will be able to hack your PC in your vicinity.

       Get a VPN
This VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is considered as the most secured way of browsing the internet on a public network. This VPN will route your traffic through a secure network, even when using in public WI-Fi and will provide you with all the perks of our private network while you still be having a freedom of using a public Wi-Fi.
While there exist free VPN services, where a paid VPN service guarantees the integration of your connection. If you connect regularly to some unknown networks, setting your VPN could be a smart move for protecting your personal information.

       Try Not To Use Wi-Fi Spots That Connect Automatically
Your smart phone or a tablet might be set to get connected with the WI-Fi that gets connected automatically, but this could be very dangerous for you and your personal information. Not only this will allow your device to get connected to the public networks, but will also get connected to the malicious networks that will steal your specific and useful information.

       Make Use of HTTPS
Generally websites transfer the content in plain texts, making it easy for anyone who has hacked your network information. Many websites make use of HTTPS to find out the encrypted transferred data, but you should not rely on these websites for keeping you protected.

You can always keep this encrypted connection with the HTTPS browser extension everywhere. With the help of this plugin enabled, almost all your website connections get secured with HTTPS and will make you sure that any kind of data transfer is safe from all the prying eyes available in the market.

      Two-Factor Authentication Should Be Used
Two-factor authentication means that you have to use two pieces of information for logging into your account. The first information is that you already know and the other is that you have with you. Most of the time this takes a kind of information and a code that is being sent to your cell phone.

Many popular websites and services will support you two-factor authentication. This will mean that even if someone gets your password because of your bad and unreliable Wi-Fi network, they won’t be able to login to your account.

       Always Confirm The Name Of Your Network
Sometimes hackers use fake Wi-Fi network to attract innocent public Wi-Fi users. If the Wi-Fi is not named properly, it means the Wi-Fi is fake and connecting to it could make your device into the hands of malicious users that could misuse your personal information for     

Protect Your Passwords
It is good to use unique and original passwords for protecting your different accounts and this will also help you in keeping your accounts well compromised. By keeping a track of multiple secure passwords will become tricky for you. It would be good to keep your passwords safe and secured that nobody could misuse your personal information.
   
       Turn on Your Firewall
Most of the Operating Systems offer built-in-firewall settings which will monitor your incoming and outgoing connections. A firewall will not provide you complete protection, but this is a setting that you need to keep enabled always.
When you use Windows notebook, you can locate your firewall settings in the Control panel when you look into the System and Security. Click on the Windows Firewall and click on the Turn Windows Firewall On or Off whatever you want. Enter your admin password that will verify that your Windows Firewall is on. 

       Run Anti-Virus Software
Running your up-to-date anti-virus software will help you in providing the first alert if your system has been compromised well while it is being connected to an unsecured network. An alert will show you if any virus is being loaded onto your PC or if there is any strange behavior of your system like modifications to the registry of the files.
By keeping these 9 points in mind, you can always be sure that you are working safe with your PC or your mobile device while using it with a publicaly shared Wi-Fi network.
It is possible that your anti-virus software might not catch all the unauthorized activities while running, but this is a great way of protecting your mistakes against most of the network attacks.

Author Bio: Kaylyn Gabriele is a Network Engineer who has completed her graduation in Networking from Canada University. She is also responsible for organizing various Network Administrator Programs for the same university. After this she is very good with technical writing and she likes to share her views about Networking and Technical issues in her blogs. Also she keeps on sharing tips and tricks regarding networking and technology. Writing posts and articles is her hobby and she lives up to her readers’ expectations almost every time. Follow her on Twitter and catch her on Facebook to know her better.

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