The Security Risks of Public WIFI for Businesses

Man-in-the-middle is a common cyberattack that exploits an unprotected public WIFI network. Vulnerabilities in the network can allow hackers to position themselves between a device and the public WIFI connection to access the communication traveling back and forth. Using this technique, an attacker can remain undetected and intercept any sensitive company data that is being shared over the network.

Hackers can also employ the man-in-the-middle attack technique to send your employees to a malicious, spoofed website that closely resembles your business’ URL. This way, hackers can steal important business login or security credentials and use this information to launch a wider cyberattack against your organization. Check out our website cloning demonstration to see exactly how hackers clone websites.

Hackers can leverage unprotected public WIFI and distribute malware to devices connected to that network. Malware is a major security threat for businesses and another risk of using public WIFI networks. Cybercriminals can install spyware and other malicious software on your employees’ infected devices, allowing them to quietly access and steal your business’ financial information or login credentials.

During an evil twin cyberattack, hackers trick users into connecting to malicious WIFI that is designed to mimic a legitimate public network. Using techniques such as spoofing a secure WIFI connection’s Service Set Identifier (SSID) and captive portal page, hackers can create a fake network that is hard to identify. Once an employee connects to the rogue WIFI network to do business, hackers can view their online activity and access any confidential data being entered into the device, such as login credentials to your organization’s websites or portals.

Encourage employees to use a virtual private network (VPN) when connecting to a free, public WIFI. A VPN establishes a secure, encrypted tunnel from a device to the internet, making it tough for hackers to snoop on a user’s activity.

Apply anti-malware and anti-virus protection to all employee devices to block any unauthorized, malicious access. Further, ensure all employee devices have up-to-date software to leverage any newly released security or bug fixes.

Encourage employees to avoid auto connecting to free WIFI and to turn off Bluetooth as well as file sharing when not in use to prevent cybercriminals from dropping malware onto their devices.

Train employees to check for the pad lock or HTTPS in the website’s URL before entering any confidential information to ensure that the site is using adequate security measures.

Many employees using public WIFI are likely unaware of the security threat to their business data and devices. So, provide consistent security awareness training to ensure your employees are up to date on the dangers of using public WIFI and well-versed in measures to protect information shared over these networks.

A strong password is a solid first defense against cyberattacks. Using the same password for multiple accounts is a security risk because a cybercriminal with access to one account can then hack into others linked to that password. Password managers are a digital tool that can encrypt and securely store all passwords, as well as generate unique passwords for different accounts. This can limit the scale of a cyberattack even if a hacker gets access to one password through an infected public WIFI network.