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

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

scarycuteface:
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

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

tradepunter:
Man in the middle is very technical, even your mobile communication device comes under this attack.

Lots of foreign countries in Nigeria conducts this operation and I wonder why it's not been checkmated.

Worked close to the Chinese embassy in maitama Abuja and picked up various signal at some very odd frequencies transmitted from their embassy...

Then I added 1 and 2 and realized that the Chinese embassy is smack right in the middle of strategic importance close to AGIP cooperate office, NATIONAL COMMUNICATION COMMISSION (NCC), TRANSCORP , NIGERIA EXPORTING ZONE AUTHORITY (NEPZA), NIGERIA EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL. The British embassy that was stationed in same area had to relocate because the Chinese embassy moved directly opposite them..

So information on Nigerians are gathered every day...

olasunkanmimart:


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

post=83581850:
Be careful where and where you tap your 'current' from please!

Tapout:


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 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 practical sites being visited. In situations like this when that site becomes a frequently visited site and it 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

NuclearReactor:
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

Ubty:
How can I verify if my phone has been hacked?

Guest2017:
@op, thanks for this enlightening piece. After telling us what the dangers are, why not also add what the solutions are of we are to connect to WiFi. Would it be OK to use a VPN? Or do we totally stay clear of using free WiFi.
Kindly state. It would be helpful to all.

NuclearReactor:
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

Tapout:


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 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 practical sites being visited. In situations like this when that site becomes a frequently visited site and it 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

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

olasunkanmimart:


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

cnonyechi:

You dey do yahoo?

Jblaze1:
Hello, Tor brower is not 100% secure , which means they can still trace you and track all your activity on the web.

princemillla:
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

chukzyfcbb:

you are even going too far.

Web proxy,firewalls, network monitoring solutions can reveal this in a customer environment if they have it.

they don't need to visit an ISP for this traffic visibility, and those tools can also block a lot of VPN and torrent softwares, it all depends on who is handling it.

yes exactly....but then ur ISP will have to grant u access to some of those applications not all tho. Like there's this eGate app, u can also use it to monitor IP addresses connected to a network. But u can't access it except ur ISP Grants u access, that'sif they also use it.in most cases they will be the ones to even suggest that u make use of it.the idea is that on your own u can check bandwidth utilization(sites being visited and all that) and some other things without calling ur ISP. We even see sites being visited by apple devices...funny enough na them dey consume data pass

Iscoalarcon:
lol the school actually banned us on visiting sites like youtube, facebook, and all those social medias and I still visit them all in fact I use to download youtube videos using clipgrab that's why I am worried may be they know we violating those rules

Tapout:


yes exactly....but then ur ISP will have to grant u access to some of those applications not all tho. Like there's this eGate app, u can also use it to monitor IP addresses connected to a network. But u can't access it except ur ISP Grants u access, that'sif they also use it.in most cases they will be the ones to even suggest that u make use of it.the idea is that on your own u can check bandwidth utilization(sites being visited and all that) and some other things without calling ur ISP. We even see sites being visited by apple devices...funny enough na them dey consume data pass

chukzyfcbb:


when I was in ss class may years ago, those sites were blocked as usual by za computer teacher but I kept digging around proxy sites to bypass it.

This comment reminds me of way back when boiz dey hustle enter Yahoo messenger and Hi5.com to chat with foreign babes

Iscoalarcon:
wow! lovely memory but which site is hi5 I never heard of before now