Network in a public place like restaurant or park, that is owned by a city or municipality. Network you connect to outside your home, and something you use often while traveling. These networks are often configured without passwords, or with very simple passwords that are easy for people to remember. Often, these passwords are associated with the name or service. While this is user-friendly it also raises some serious risks when it comes to privacy.

Risks of connecting to Public WIFI
Networks with weak passwords or no passwords at all mean that anyone. Hackers or other bad people can easily get access to your connection and information. These networks often lack strong security aside from their passwords. Public wi-fi networks don’t use encryption at all. This lack of security means it's far too easy for hackers to join, and then spy on, what you’re doing. In some instances, they can even collect your information or take over your computer.

Malware
Viruses, ransomware, worms, adware and trojan horses are comes from different places. Mainly comes from software vulnerability, or a security weakness in a program or operating system installed on your computer. Malware damage on your internet experience, doing anything from draining your bandwidth to harming your computers, and giving hackers a way to access your machine and files. Unsecured wi-fi can present an easy way for a hacker to inject malware, or even utilize your computer as a way to distribute it.

Malicious Hotspots
Hotspots you unintentionally connect to. Hackers set up hotspots which may look or sound legitimate and often mimic the name of a real hotspot nearby, to trick you into connecting to a network. Then, the criminals can steal whatever information they want from you and your
machine.

Unencrypted Networks
When you connect to a site that does not make use of encryption. Although increasingly rare since the introduction of https, there are still unencrypted sites out there. This means if information is intercepted, it’s easy to read straight away without any effort. Whereas if it’s encrypted, it is extremely difficult or impossible. We talk about encryption a lot (we are a VPN company after all!) and believe it to be absolutely essential to use each time you connect.

How to Avoid Danger on Public WIFI
WIFI network could risk to your privacy - and keeping this in mind before you hit that connect button - can mean the difference between connecting to the rogue hotspot designed to trick you and the legitimate one. It can also help you make proactive choices to protect your privacy.

Use a VPN
A VPN is the best way to protect yourself each time you use public WIFI. A VPN encrypts your connection to secure it, so that even if someone intercepts it they cannot see anything you’re doing on the network. It keeps your information safe, and makes up for any holes in security of the wi-fi network itself.