Free Wi-Fi hotspots pose risks to the security of our communications and personal data, warns Europol, the central European police agency for fighting crime.
As the head of Europol's Cybersecurity Department, Troels Erting, "sensitive" data and our personal information should not be transmitted through free public Wi-Fi hotspots as they can easily be intercepted by hackers.
"Do not share information and sensitive personal data through free and public Wi-Fi hotspots, Erding emphasizes to the BBC, saying that this should only be sent using secure networks and, ideally, from each person's personal computer at home.
His warning comes, as he himself said, after the increase in attacks using public Wi‑Fi networks. Known data interception techniques via Wi‑Fi are already used for the attacks, such as «Man in the middle» («the intermediary») in which the hacker inserts himself between the user and the hotspot, stealing the data traffic between them. Another way is for the attacker himself to «set up» a malicious hotspot to trap his victims and steal the details of those who connect to it.
These hackers usually set up fake Wifi spots with «friendly» names of well‑known companies such as for example «Starbucks Wi‑Fi» in order to mislead users and steal information. Because’ this and as security experts point out, the solution is one and simple: to verify the authenticity of free wi‑fi by asking the employees of the business that offers it.
Source: tovima.gr
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