Nowadays, competitive data plans have greatly reduced the cost of internet plans from what we used to have. With a stream of networks now contesting for the attention of the fans, as well as a higher market share, it is interesting to see how this has played out well for the market.

But, even at that, data can still be expensive.

Imagine how much data a user would have to consume if they were to enjoy a full movie on a streaming platform such a Netflix. Factor in how much a user would have to spend just to keep playing their favorite video games online.

All that, and we have not even gone deeper into other stuff that could make a user consume insane amounts of data in a little time.

It is, thus, little surprise why many people have turned to public Wi-Fi networks.

Free Wifi are usually provided as part of a service for users of such a service. That is why you can find them in schools, airports, hospitals and other private/ public institutions today.

Even though the occurrences of free Wi-Fi networks are not as widespread in these part as it is in the western world, they are fast taking over. Very soon, they will be everywhere you turn to.

The idea of that alone is very exciting.

Imagine not having to commit to your mobile data plans to download that massive Android OS update. Just think about how you can now download as many movies as you want or stream all the video content you can without the constant fear of how much data you are burning through always ringing at the back of your mind.

However, it is often said that nothing comes free, ‘not even in Freetown.’ The same saying holds true for public Wi-Fi networks. In fact, if you know how much you were directly paying, you would most likely do away with these services for good.

What dangers do public Wi-Fi networks pose?

Before launching into the range of problems they could cause for you, it is important to understand why they can cause those problems in the first place.

You should have observed that you don’t need to enter a password to connect to a public Wi-Fi network. To make this possible, the network providers need to have put the service at the lowest security settings so that no one is blocked out.

In other words, there is little to zero encryption on the network.

That becomes the cause of the issues below:

1 Data Monitoring and Collection

On a normal day, your internet service provider (ISP for short; such as MTN, Airtel, etc.) can see what you are doing when you access the internet. This is possible since your internet traffic streams through them. Since these institutions are regulated by the government, your data is not at so much of a risk with them.

The instance you connect to a public Wi-Fi network, though, your ISP becomes the entity offering such a connection. This means that airport, coffee shop, pizza place or where else you are now knows everything you are doing on the internet while connected to their network.

Since the network is not encrypted, a hacker could also gain access to your internet streams and see what you are doing on your computer.

For one, your new ISP can record and collect that data for other purposes. In fact, some of them sell this data to other companies who can do with your information as they so please.

On the other hand, hackers can use this chance to gain access to your bank account passwords, online login information, emails and so much more.

2 Man in The Middle Attacks

As the name implies, this happens when someone places themselves in between you and a server (such as website or app) that your device is supposed to be communicating with. Since the Wi-Fi network is not encrypted, they can intercept your messages and interactions with the other end of the server.

With such interceptions, they can even manipulate someone you are chatting with on the other end by relaying edited/ wrong messages to them instead. Likewise, they could use this approach to impersonate you and collect sensitive data from the other end of a conversation.

3 Malware Installation

Malware (viruses, trojan, keyloggers, etc.) can be installed onto your Android device in a variety of ways. Hackers have tried various means in the past: tricking you with phishing emails, loading malicious codes onto apps you install (even the Google Play Store is not safe sometimes), and so on.

One of the least talked about ways of placing a malware on your device is via a free Wi-Fi network.

By simply loading the said malware onto the network, every unit that connects to that network will automatically download the malware. The interesting thing is, this malware can stay on your device for months (even years) and you would not even know anything is amiss.

In this time, the hacker would have collected enough information to launch a hack on you.

4 Rogue Network Attacks

Another interesting Wi-Fi network attack comes in the form of rogue networks. Hackers simply need to get creative to pull this off – and that doesn’t take much of an effort.

Let’s assume you were at an airport which normally had a network named ‘AIRPORT 1.’ A hacker could get creative and make their own Wi-Fi network available with the name ‘A1RPORT 1’ or ‘AIRPORT I.’

If you don’t look at those two names very carefully, you would not see that the letter ‘I’ has been swapped for number ‘1’ in both cases.

Should you connect to any of the rogue networks, the hackers suddenly become your ISP. At that instant, they can hijack your device, steal sensitive data, install malware, etc.

source - naijaandroidarenadotcom

Noted

Op all these ones you dey talk, just know say the goodness overrides the dangers...
I can still remember those moments in school where i streamed season 1 and 2 of a movie nonstop with school wifi...
Lucky for me i was living close to school back gate, so the wifi reach my house...
Nna nonstop browsing and streaming
Until for no reason it stoped working
Free things sweet sha

@ greenhulk is it possible for my school to track what I am doing with their wifi even though I am using Tor browser

How can I verify if my phone has been hacked?

Iscoalarcon:
@ greenhulk is it possible for my school to track what I am doing with their wifi even though I am using Tor browser

Yes it's possible.

greenhulk:


Yes it's possible.

wow! what is the solution to this apart from paid vpn services

Again

Your phone can be hacked

VPN routes/tunnel my traffic away from my ISP and it helps on public wifi too. Popular websites now use secure socket layer (SSL) which makes man in the middle attack (MITM) difficult.

Okay

Inasmuch their is dangers attached to free wifi nwanne me no dey joke with am ooo once my phone indicate wifi icon me dey connect oooo maybe leta we can attack each other with malware....


Op biko is ur wifi on i wan connect

Never transact any business or input your debit card details on a free wifi network.

Other than that you are pretty much safe.. Hacker only mainly target important, influencial people...not normal average individuals.

La wifi open la connect. Case closed

.
.
.
We have used office items at giveaway prices. Sofa set, inverter, furniture and more. Check them out: https://www.nairaland.com/5472126/used-office-items-clearance-sales

That is why I always love apple products

Those products are secured

These problems mentioned above nor dey happen to them

There is nothing as sweet as connecting to free wifi
The only thing that comes to ur mind is download download and download. Some will get away yes the OG's while some will mistakenly download their vilage problem via wifi those are the one Ops is talking about

lenghtinny:
As long as VPNs are still in existence, I see no danger unlike psquare

Lol.... Only few will understand this...

Op, what of some Wi-Fi network that you have to sign in to use the data after connecting to the Wi-Fi. E.g school Wi-Fi (unilorin_cloud)

Vpn is the remedy

How can I get copyright license for my music blog

OP nice write up... But i think you should also come up with safety measures to adhere to on a public wifi... Like; always make sure you submit sensitive data on https alone and use vpn as well

Iscoalarcon:
@ greenhulk is it possible for my school to track what I am doing with their wifi even though I am using Tor browser

hunmmm
What are you doing that they want to monitor you are you watching
Porn movie

Iscoalarcon:
@ greenhulk is it possible for my school to track what I am doing with their wifi even though I am using Tor browser

Yes very positive. My advice on free Wi-Fi: always use a tunnel (VPN software) or use anonymous mode.

lenghtinny:
As long as VPNs are still in existence, I see no danger unlike psquare

VPN protects you to an extent, but believe me ....ur isp can still monitor what you are doing. I worked with an ISP during my nysc and I witnessed things man really scary things. Since then I changed the user name of my laptop and phone cos when monitoring what users are connected to the network and what they are doing, it displays ur device user name. So let's say You used ur name as ur user name and ur boss calls the ISP complaining about slow internet or something. They log into the router and check for connected users and they amount of bandwidth each user is consuming along side what sites that are being visited, they screenshot it and send to ur boss. Remember u used ur name as ur username on ur device...na so ur boss go call u come em office say Johnson so this is what u are doing in the office. we had incidents were some bosses would call telling us to blacklist some sites like facebook, youtube, Netflix etc. So my guy like I said to some extent, VPN will protect you especially ur location but when it comes to what ur doing, bros they can always monitor you. Tho some vpns create a dummy site so the ISP cannot actually know the paticular sites being visited especially foreign sites which can only be accessed using a VPN. In situations like this when that site becomes a frequently visited site and its consuming a lot of bandwidth, it gets blacklisted that way u can't visit it no more, unless ofcos u change ur IP address. But dont be scared, only when most ISP's start checking sites is when the complaints become severe

JigalertStaff:
How can I get copyright license for my music blog

you have to register it

obago:
you have to register it

its about file sharing, how do I register it