Free public wi-fi comes at a cost

No matter where you are, or where you’re going, it is easy to stay connected.

All you need is a portable device and a signal to connect to the internet, and you can usually find that for free.

“Do you think public wi-fi is safe?”

“No (laughs) actually I do not.”

Christine Winge is someone who learned a hard lesson about wi-fi security.

“I was in Las Vegas a few years back, and I used the wi-fi in the hotel room to do something with a credit card,” she said. “And all of sudden, when I get back from my trip, all these packages started arriving at my house. And so, that was the first time I’d ever been hacked and had my identity stolen.”

Christine isn’t alone.

According to the FBI, in 2016, California led the nation with over 39-thousand cyber crimes reported.

And it’s not just from massive security breaches. Experts say public wi-fi networks are especially vulnerable and everybody knows it.

“Most retailers or most providers of the service – whoever is hosting it – will make it very clear that they take no responsibility for security, that they take no responsibility for the effectiveness or efficiency or the signal or anything like that. Y’know, they are just providing it as is,” said Luis Alvarez, who runs a Salinas technology company.

Alvarez says the problem with a public network is that it’s public.

“It’s open, which means everybody who is connected with that network theoretically can see each other,” he said.

On a busy day, over 600 people will use the public wi-fi at the Monterey Regional Airport.

That’s a lot of people on the same network, and that’s the problem. In a large public setting, all it takes is one guy in the corner to jump onto your internet session and send back malware to your computer. That’s sometimes called the man in the middle attack. Another thing to watch out for is fake public wi-fi.

I.T. expert Rob May says hackers often create phony networks – with phony names like *starbucks free wi-fi.*

“The thing is,” he said, “Starbucks don’t call their wi-fi, ‘Starbucks Free Wi-fi.’ What you’ve actually connected to, is a criminal who sat in the corner of the coffee shop with his laptop, broadcasting an access point.”

Scared yet? You don’t have to be.

“I just thought there has to be a better solution,” said Winge.

She found it in a “virtual private network” or V.P.N. – which encrypts and protects your internet connection, even on a public network.

“It’s very easy to set up,” she said.

“Once I’ve logged in, all I have to do is turn it on. Or if it recognizes I’m not at home, it will automatically turn itself on and I’ve got the security that I need.”

You can download a V.P.N app, Or sign up for something more robust from an internet security company.

And there is another fix.

“If you have a smartphone that can be a hotspot, use your smartphone. Set up your phone, because the cellular network is protected. There’s no way to hack into that,” said Alvarez.

There is usually a monthly fee for hotspot service and data rates apply.

Wi-fi will continue to grow. Tech giant Cisco predicts there will be 432 million public wi-fi hotspots by 2020.

Ultimately, users will determine how safe they are.