Preventing Your Mobile Devices From Wi-Fi Threats

Most people are less cautious about security when using mobile devices. Unfortunately, hackers are becoming increasingly adept at hacking wireless connections. Some of them have even designed a lot of viruses that use public Wi-Fi to infect mobile devices. Many of them are transmitted through hotspots and public Wi-Fi connections. You will need to be aware of these threats and take the necessary measures to protect against them.

Understand Wi-Fi Threats

There are a variety of reasons that you need to be careful about using public Wi-Fi. Here are some threats that you will want to be aware of:

• Many hackers setup hotspots to sniff data from people that log on.
• Other hackers use driving. This is a strategy where they look for unsecured networks to hack and steal vulnerable data.
• Many hackers use Wi-Fi connections to spread viruses to other users.

Far more people have been exploited over the last few years, because they are more careless when using mobile devices. You should always be cautious when using any public Wi-Fi connection. Make sure that the network is secured and find out who it belongs to. If you are at a café or other business that has created a hotspot then you will want to speak with an employee to make sure that you are logging into the right one. Clever scam artists will create a hotspot with a similar name to dupe unwitting users.

Hackers Using Wi-Fi More than Ever

More hackers are using public Wi-Fi to reach their targets. Their strategies are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

A team of researchers from the University of Liverpool recently discovered that a new virus could penetrate public wireless networks very easily. They found that it was very easy to use a specially designed virus to monitor traffic and data that was exchanged over these networks. They also found that hackers could easily spread viruses to other users over these networks, which would make it considerably easier to exploit their targets. These researchers were merely conducting an experiment, but they warned that criminals could use this software for much more malicious purposes.

Essential Security Tips

Far too many consumers don’t understand how vulnerable their mobile devices are to hackers. There are a number of things that you can do to make your mobile device more secure when using public Wi-Fi. Here are some things that you should do:

• Make sure that you use secure connections. You will want to use urls with https rather than http in the domain name whenever possible.
• Always have up-to-date antivirus and malware protection software installed on your mobile devices.
• Use SSL encryption or VPN whenever using a wireless hotspot.
• Use strong passwords and change them regularly in case your data is compromised.

People that do not take these measures are much more likely to be exploited. One white hat hacker stated that criminals try to hack the most vulnerable computers. They will be far less likely to try to hack you if you take these measures.

Author Kalen is a profilic technology writer. He shares tips on cybersecurity and preventing online fraud.