In general
Who doesn’t like free Wi-Fi?
We often connect to a hotspot called “Free Wi-Fi” or similar because it’s a name that is often used. But the people behind these free Wi-Fi hotspots are not always trustworthy; some are hackers who want your data. As soon as you connect to the hotspot, all your data traffic runs through it.
The hotspot owner then only needs to install an app to record the data traffic. For example, all your passwords are stored and hackers can use them to access your data and accounts.
Tips
- Use a different password everywhere you need to login. You don’t have to remember all passwords by heart, of course. You can store them in a password manager. All you have to do is remember the master password for the password manager.
- Use multi-factor authentication, i.e. identify yourself using fingerprint and password. Hackers won’t be able to do anything with just the password if they don’t have your smartphone too.
- Don’t connect to a free Wi-Fi hotspot until you find out who owns it.