Used to trust free WiFi anywhere, now I won't touch it without a VPN

Back in 2019 I'd hop on any open network at coffee shops or airports without thinking twice. Then last year I saw a guy at LAX plug a little device into a wall outlet and suddenly everyone's phone traffic was going through his setup. I asked him about it and he just laughed and said 'it's for testing.' Now I use a paid VPN every single time I connect to public WiFi, even at my local library. It slows things down a bit but at least I'm not an easy target anymore. Has anyone else run into situations where public networks felt too convenient to be safe?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_patricia21d ago

That LAX story gives me chills because I watched something similar happen at a Starbucks in downtown Seattle back in 2021. A guy sat down next to the charging station with a laptop and a tiny box that looked like a phone charger, and within 5 minutes my phone showed two open networks I'd never seen before named "Starbucks_Guest_Free" and "Seattle_WiFi_5G". I didn't think much of it until I walked past his table and saw a screen full of data packets scrolling by. Now I never connect to any public network unless I can confirm the exact official name with a staff member first. Even then I run my VPN because those fake networks can look exactly like the real one down to the same spelling and login page.

the_hugo21d ago

Sat here reading this and my jaw actually dropped at the part where you said the guy had a tiny box that looked like a phone charger. @the_patricia, that's insane. I always figured those fake networks were just someone's phone hotspot with a tweaked name, not a whole rig with hardware. The fact he had a whole display of data packets scrolling by means he was probably grabbing passwords and credit card numbers in real time. Makes me wonder how many people just clicked on "Starbucks_Guest_Free" without a second thought while waiting for their latte.