I write about it (and use it) VPN Although I do this regularly, even I am sometimes guilty of sacrificing safety in the name of convenience. Let’s say I’m visiting a city in another country. I don’t want to pay roaming charges, but I need to know where I’m going, so I quickly hop onto a public WiFi and stare at Google Maps for a while. Oops, I forgot to turn on the VPN first. I’ve been lucky so far, but this habit needs to be broken, especially in light of a new report from France highlighting all the risks of using public WiFi.
This report was provided by the Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des systèmes d’information (ANSSI), the French National Information Systems Security Agency. The article details the cybersecurity threats faced by people using mobile devices, and openly tells people to “use a VPN” especially when they need to connect to public Wi-Fi.
What’s interesting is that the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidance from a few weeks ago says essentially the opposite. Not only did it fail to even mention the risks posed by public Wi-Fi, it actively encouraged people to avoid using VPNs. We encouraged you not to use dangerous free VPNs, or even the best VPN services. Needless to say, while I’ve been championing the use of VPNs for years, I’ve also often mentioned the risks of public WiFi, so I definitely agree with ANSSI here.
In addition to using a VPN when connecting via public WiFi, ANSSI also recommends turning off your phone’s WiFi connection when you’re out and about and don’t plan on using it. On the other hand, it will prevent you from using the auto-connect feature for previously used WiFi connections. This is all due to new technology that allows hackers to intercept WiFi connections, as well as old-fashioned techniques in which malicious parties give connection points a name that seems safe, but are actually access points that redirect users to phishing sites (masquerading as free WiFi sign-up pages) or plant malware on mobile phones.
We’ll also provide guidance on how to identify which VPN is best for your cybersecurity (because there are certainly bad VPNs out there). Specifically, it states that you should choose one that “uses cryptographic protocols, such as IPSes or TLS, and requires user control to ensure the confidentiality of communications.”
Our partner NordVPN uses both of these protocols, so if you just found yourself swimming naked in a shark tank with an open wound and want to start using a VPN on public WiFi, that’s our top recommendation.
