Travel Tips
Public Wi-Fi Risks: 7 Ways to Stay Safe When Travelling
How safe are hotel, café and airport Wi-Fi networks? Fake hotspots, open connections and banking: 7 security rules to follow when you travel.
Free Wi-Fi is tempting, but hotel, café and airport networks are open to everyone, and you cannot always know who set them up. A few simple rules are enough to protect your personal data.
The main risks
- Fake networks: networks named something like “Airport_Free_WiFi” can be set up to watch your traffic.
- Open connections: someone on the same network may see unencrypted traffic.
- Sign-in pages: some networks ask for your email or phone number, which may be collected for marketing.
7 ways to stay safe
- Do sensitive tasks on mobile data. Use your eSIM connection for banking, payments and passwords.
- Verify the network name. Ask hotel reception or café staff for the official network name.
- Turn off auto-join. Stop your phone from connecting automatically to fake networks with familiar names.
- Look for HTTPS. Do not enter information on sites without the padlock in the address bar.
- Enable two-factor authentication. Your account stays protected even if a password leaks; keep your main line on for verification SMS.
- Turn off sharing. Set file and screen sharing and features like AirDrop to “Contacts only”.
- Forget the network when done. Prevent your phone from reconnecting to it.
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See plans Frequently asked questions
Should I use a VPN?
If you have to use public Wi-Fi, a trusted VPN adds protection. Keep the laws of the country you are in in mind.
Is hotel Wi-Fi risky too?
Even when password-protected, it is shared with all guests. It is fine for everyday use; mobile data is safer for payments.
