Don't Ruin Your Perfect Morning - Avoid Public Wi-Fi

It’s a beautiful day.

It starts like any great morning: blue skies, your favorite music playing, and a fresh cup of coffee from your go-to café. You take a seat, pull out your phone, and think—"Just a quick scroll through Instagram."

You connect to Wi-Fi, open the app, realize you’ve been logged out, and enter your login info.

By that afternoon, you’re on the phone with your bank reporting suspicious activity. The next day, you’re resetting your passwords. A few days later, you’re contacting the Social Security Administration about potential identity theft.

What just happened?

You may have connected to a fake Wi-Fi network—also known as a “rogue access point.” These are networks set up by hackers in public spaces, disguised with familiar names like “Free Café Wi-Fi” or “Airport_Guest.” Once connected, any data you send—usernames, passwords, messages, even financial info—can be intercepted in real time.

Even worse, attackers can redirect you to lookalike login pages for apps like Instagram or Gmail, capture your credentials, and use them to access your bank accounts, email, cloud storage—everything.

And no, they don’t need high-end gear. A hacker can pull this off with equipment small enough to fit in a backpack.

While these attacks are less likely in a small quiet café, especially when everybody there is a regular, they’re much more common in high-traffic places like airports, malls, hotels, and tourist hubs.

How to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi

✅ Turn off automatic connections

• Android: Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi preferences > Turn off Connect to public networks

• iOS: Settings > Wi-Fi > Tap the ‘i’ icon next to the network > Turn off Auto-Join. Do this for each network in the “My Networks” section.

  • On the same screen, tap Ask to Join Networks > Set it to Off.

Note that for iOS (iPhones) an alternate solution is to turn Wi-Fi off entirely while in crowded public locations. This could be more convenient than turning off auto-join for every trusted network, as that would include your home network.

✅ Verify the network name
Before connecting, ask staff for the exact Wi-Fi name. Hackers often use names that look nearly identical to legitimate ones.

✅ Use a VPN
A virtual private network encrypts your traffic, even on unsecured networks. It’s one of the best defenses when using public Wi-Fi.

✅ Avoid logging into sensitive accounts
Don’t access banking, email, or social media over public Wi-Fi.

Sometimes, the most harmless-looking tap can open the door to serious risks.

So next time you’re out enjoying your morning coffee, remember: public Wi-Fi might be free—but your personal data is priceless.

Stay safe out there—and enjoy that latte.

If you have questions, if you’d like to see specific topics taken up, or if you have general feedback, I’d like to hear from you! Email: [email protected].

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Peter Oram
Chief Cyber Safety Officer