So if you feel suspicious about the Wi-Fi network you’ve just joined, disconnect right away. One of the red flags is a sluggish connection - if the Internet speed is annoyingly slow, your Internet traffic may be routed through a malicious network. Hackers mask fake Wi-Fi hotspots well making it quite difficult to recognize them, so you should be vigilant each time you connect to a new public Wi-Fi network. How can you protect yourself? Stay on a lookout for warning signs. Read further to learn how to protect your privacy instead. So if you’re about to send some personal photos on public Wi-Fi, think twice before doing that because there may be a malicious hacker seeing everything. By intercepting the Internet traffic, hackers can see your Internet activity and steal your private data, including files and images you share over the network. The reason cybercriminals set up evil twin hotspots is to eavesdrop on your online communications. You notice the word FREE and immediately join the network because free Internet is what you’re looking for. When you open the options available, you see two open networks that look almost the same: CoffeeWiFi and CoffeeWiFi_FREE. Let’s say, you bring your laptop to a local coffee shop to catch up on some tasks, order a cup of latte, and try to connect to a local Wi-Fi network. Usually, a fraudulent Wi-Fi network has a very similar name (the primary network’s name) to a legitimate Wi-Fi network, so that you don’t notice anything suspicious at first glance. It’s not that difficult to fall into the trap. It can happen anywhere - coffee shop, hotel, airport, or store, as cybercriminals would choose popular locations to target unaware users. And evil twin cleverly mimics the real hotspot to trick people into connecting to it. Evil twin Wi-Fi hotspots - what are they?Īn evil twin is a bogus Wi-Fi access point that hackers or cybercriminals set up to eavesdrop on network traffic. But do you ever stop and think for a moment before connecting to a public Wi-Fi network? The emergence of evil twin Wi-Fi hotspots indicates that you should. It’s convenient, and it’s free - it always feels good when you can save a few megabytes of your mobile data.

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