I was recently in a Bowling Center when I looked at my phone and noticed it did not have a signal. I looked at the phone, and it said, “Searching”. When that happens, I instinctively connect to the Center’s guest Wi-Fi. I use their Wi-Fi for just about everything- everything that is except to look at my bank accounts.

It’s funny how, by default, we think our banking information is the only information that we need to secure. We really should be securing ANYTHING that could be used to gather information about us. Our social media accounts contain information that can be used to answer security questions like where we grew up, where we went to school, and who our friends are. This information can be used to gain access to our email accounts, our healthcare accounts, and our bank accounts. Basically, any website or app that has information we do not want to be public. 

What can we do to protect ourselves on a public, unsecure network? There are many ways that we can defend ourselves. This post will focus on one in particular – making sure that we are connected to the correct network. Hackers can spoof networks and their connections. When this happens, the hacker’s network looks like the one you should be connecting to, but your information is actually being transmitted to an unknown source. We can verify the name of the Wi-Fi with the place. This is so we do not accidentally connect to the hackers’ network. We do not want to give anyone access to our information that should not have access to it.

That is the point of this, right… To make sure that we are protected no matter where we are.