[Guide] How to Connect to Public WiFi and Be Safe

Using your laptop or smartphone outside of your home or office? Then you are probably connecting to one of many public WiFi hotspots available around the world. They are quite convenient, but you should seriously think about public WiFi security and your online privacy. As you know, while you’re connected, your smartphone is syncing your social media accounts, email accounts and even bank accounts through their apps. You don’t want that sensitive information to get in the wrong hands.

You don’t have to avoid connecting to public WiFi. So, how to connect to public WiFi and be safe? Read below.

Businesses and public places offer free WiFi to attract customers and to provide a public service. However, the businesses that offer public WiFi are not IT or cybersecurity professionals. Public WiFi security is not a big concern for them. These free WiFi hotspots often don’t implement standard security practices such as:

• Securing the WiFi access either by requiring a password to connect to the WiFi hotspot or having some sort of login or registration before accessing the Internet
• Having up-to-date firmware on their routers and other networking equipment
• Having security compliant or at least hard to guess admin usernames and passwords
• Doing periodic routine checks to see if the networks have been compromised

Public WiFi networks are attractive targets for hackers because they are usually easy to compromise and so many different people use them that they never run out of new targets.

Public WiFi networks aren’t just convenient for you; they are also convenient for cyber criminals. They can intercept the traffic and get all your social media accounts, credit card numbers, email passwords, etc.

By far the best and easiest solution to online security and privacy problems is a VPN. When you are going to work or on vacation, it is almost impossible to avoid using a public WiFi network. They are part of the essential infrastructure.

Connect to public WiFi and be safe– use a VPN!

Everything has it’s pros and cons and the same is true for VPNs, they slow down your web traffic. VPNs can even make the internet almost unusable because of the way they’re built, performance is not really a priority. Also, most VPN solutions remain inactive after your Internet connection drops for whatever reason. This can happen while roaming between WiFi hotspots, for example.

Choose a bonding VPN to get fast and stable Internet.

Speedify is the VPN of the future. It resolves both security and speed concerns. With it’s channel bonding technology, Speedify can combine all available Internet connections simultaneously. You will be protected from compromised WiFi networks, even if they run captive portals. You won’t need to disconnect from Speedify (and be at risk!) to log onto the network. Speedify also keeps your data safe from the prying eyes of cyber criminals, hackers and ISPs.

Get Speedify on all major platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. Connect to public WiFi, be safe and fast!