Cafes are becoming a new office space for many freelancers and remote workers today. For people who usually work at home, setting up a laptop in a cafe can be a welcome change of scenery. Cafes everywhere profited off this by offering free WiFi for users of the mobile Internet.
A recent study by the Identity Theft Resource Center found that 74% of public WiFi users access hotspots in shops and restaurants, and 53% of users use public WiFi regularly, at least times per week. These numbers are growing as WiFi becomes a planned addition to any coffee tour.
Beware of networks' twin evil "in your coffee shop area (photo: Joel Bez)
aside from worrying about overstaying your welcome, using coffee shop hotspots can come with serious concerns. Hackers have been known to camp out in cafes, using their own router hidden in a backpack or laptop to mimic WiFi access provided by the café. The growing practice of setting up these false hot spots "evil twin" was often used to lure unsuspecting users of WiFi.
The ominous nickname comes from the use of pirate trade names and other names similar network to mimic legitimate channels. For example, an evil twin network Common Ground Cafe could be called "Common Ground Free WiFi.
personal and financial information at risk
When mobile devices connect to an evil twin, either automatically or manually, the provider may have access to detailed personal information and activity in line. Some hackers are sophisticated enough to create fake replicas of online shopping and financial sites to gather information. The pirate man becomes of age to all Internet activity, which can be a devastating security breach at the coffee shop browsers.
Once the information goes through an evil twin network, hackers can use a range of software to crack encrypted passwords and record keystrokes. Malware can also be added to the user's computer for future monitoring. banking and credit card information are particularly targeted, as these sites can easily give hackers access to personal funds.
Android Devices recently identified
Mobile devices are particularly susceptible to ill twin networks, because they often send signals "active" recognized research networks. During this process, hackers are able to record the names of recognized networks and create their own names very similar or even identical to the evil twin. In the future, mobile devices can automatically connect to the evil twin network without the user even knowing.
A recent survey of Android applications show that nearly 185 million users are vulnerable to hackers twin bad because the applications they downloaded were not adequately coded. Passwords and personal information is sent and received by vulnerable Android Apps registration and authentication process. These detailed information pieces can be picked up by pirates in the applications, and then connect to the evil twin networks.
To stay protected against evil twin networks, hotspots Users should also be wary of public WiFi that does not require a password to log in, or have a suspect name. At the same time, using a VPN service can help to shield coffee shop browsers from the threat of evil twins.
For more information on how VPN works please consult SwitchVPN services.
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