During the holidays it is not strange that we go out of our daily environment .We move to places far from the security and habits of our home, to spend our holidays in unknown places full of incognitas that clear.
This change of airs and routines also involves modifying our connectivity habits .Either because we do not want to use mobile data in a country where there is still roaming, or because we connect with the laptop or mobile in places where we do not know very well how WiFi is going, we just connect where and when we can.
With all the good things it has to find us with open networks or with WiFi networks in public places and hotels, it doesn't hurt to be careful when using these connections according to what tasks, and be even more careful if we connect to open networks.
Inviting the enemy to enter the house
The Wi-Fi networks, once we have connected to them, are the "pipe" through which the data we handle in the connections are sent and received..From the pages we visit to the emails we send, through usernames, passwords or "sensitive" data such as credit card or our personal data.
Generally, WiFi connections are private, protected by passwords and cryptographic security systems and are not susceptible to hacking (at least easily), but sometimes these types of connections are not really managed by the place where we are .And it may even happen that there are "legal" WiFi connections that have been compromised by the action of some hacker or cybercriminal.
It's not about getting scared.Not usually, nothing happens, but especially when traveling to destinations we don't know, it's convenient to be cautious.
If we connect to a WiFi created "ad hoc" by a cybercriminal, we are basically exposing our devices to their ability to access our information , as well as to create dummy pages that seem legal and where we begin to fill out forms with our data, such as user accounts and passwords, believing that we are on the official website of a social network or an online store, when in reality we are on a page that is only dedicated to capturing our data for later use fraudulently.
If we connect to an open WiFi network, created with malicious purposes, our team will be within the reach of the hacker, visible and exposed .It's like giving the address of our house to a stranger without having the assurance that we left the doors open or the blinds raised.
What we have to look at
During navigation, it is important that the pages are encrypted under "secure" communication protocols such as https .An https page may have the "https" part colored gray, blue and green, depending on the degree of security offered by the secure http protocol.The green is the one that guarantees that the page is from who it is expected to be, with its corresponding encryption certificates.
If we access a web page that is not "https" and ask us for data, we must be suspicious.It can be a "cheat" page.
It is also important to check if, when we are going to enter our data, we can use virtual keyboards instead of the physical keyboard.If a connection is compromised, it may happen that we are under the effects of "keyboard loggers" .That is, applications that detect keystrokes and identify passwords, pins, bank accounts or card numbers.
Virtual keyboards, being managed in their own way by the web access application, eliminate the risk of keystrokes being detected.If the web does not launch its own, you can use third-party keyboards such as East of Oxynger called KeyShield.
If we are in a place with our own network, be it a hotel or a restaurant or a bar, and if there is no authentication portal (always with https), it is advisable to use apps like Fing on the mobile to examine what equipment and devices are connected to the network.
It is an app that is indicated for users with technical knowledge, but allows you to "take a picture" of the network to which we are connecting .If we detect any equipment or device that does not respond to the expected, we will distrust.
With a laptop, look at the firewall.Make sure that it is activated and that the network access configuration is in "Public" and not "Private" mode.The first one is more restrictive when it comes to making our team is visible on the network, for example.
The ports of the equipment are also configured in a more restrictive way by default, which also contributes to making access to our data more complicated.
What we face
Access to insecure WiFi networks can mean from the usurpation of our identity in social networks to the fraudulent use of bank data or cards, through the installation of malware on our computers, in the style of Trojans, keyloggers or bots or spambots.We also face possible ransomware apps, although the latter are usually introduced into our computers through browsing on infected websites.
It can also happen that, if we have shared folders, steal photos or personal or work documents .A situation that is not at all desirable and may compromise our privacy or the confidentiality of information related to work.
It is not often that this type of vulnerability is used to cause damage to our computers, but it is not disposable.
In the case of identity theft, can hijack our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or even LinkedIn account , with the consequent personal or professional potential damage if the hacker in question is dedicated to publishing in our name.
Other precautions
In addition to making sure that we are browsing in secure and verified pages, it is convenient that we keep the equipment updated with the latest software versions , which eliminates possible vulnerabilities that have already been detected.
It is also convenient to deactivate data synchronization with the cloud .Thus, we expose less information to possible sniffers that capture the network traffic to later analyze it and extract data from them.
It is also good to disable Wi-Fi while it is not being used .This way, we will avoid hackers that supplant WiFi networks to force our devices to connect to them if the automatic connection mode is activated.
Using an antivirus is not too much.And even we can keep track of access attempts on our computer and know if someone tries to use it fraudulently.
On the other hand, we will try to avoid online operations that involve the exchange of sensitive data , such as bank accounts or card numbers.It is preferable to use mobile connections for it instead of relying on a public or open network of which we don't have many references.
It is not too much to activate double access verification in our social networks and email accounts or in the cloud .This way, confirmation will be requested in our mobile (if we have configured it like this , although it is usually the safest option) for any attempt to access, even if the hacker has found out our password.
Photos | Manu Arenas
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