In this generation, there’s nothing more exciting than being connected to a free WIFI. With free WIFI, you can do almost anything that strains your data plan. Most people will use free WIFI even to check their bank accounts and other sensitive information. Free WIFI is mostly found in public places which are commonly referred to as public WIFI hotspots. These places include cafes and restaurants, airports, public halls and even in waiting areas.
La WIFI pública es buena, pero la mayoría de las veces no es segura porque todo el mundo puede conectarse a ella. Esto significa que incluso personas con malas intenciones pueden conectarse a ella y causar estragos a usuarios desprevenidos.
Con unas sencillas herramientas, las personas malintencionadas pueden acceder a cualquier información que deseen desde una WIFI pública. A continuación se describen las formas en que funcionan estas herramientas;
- Ataques Man-in-the-middle (MITM) - Es el primer ataque que realiza un individuo malintencionado cuando se conecta a una WIFI pública. En el MITM, un individuo intercepta tu tráfico de red antes de que llegue al destino.
- Spoofing – This is a technique of masquerading or imitating a legitimate entity. For instance, after a MITM attack, a malicious person can impersonate the receiver and send messages back to you. Malicious people can even launch a complicated attack; website spoofing. Unsuspecting users will log into/access the website thinking it’s the legitimate one.
- Snooping – Snooping is technically referred to as sniffing. Using this method, malicious people capture your internet traffic in terms of packets and analyze it.
- Eavesdropping - Esto es básicamente escuchar lo que está pasando en una determinada WIFI pública sin el conocimiento del usuario, con la ayuda de espionaje, un individuo malicioso puede entonces tener acceso a sus mensajes y conversaciones.
Using the above techniques, malicious people can access everything they want in a network. Here what the techniques can uncover in an unsecured public WIFI;
1. IP address and MAC address
MAC address is a unique physical address that is used to identify devices on a network. An IP address, on the other hand, is also a unique address that is used to identify a device and also enable communication via the network. Unlike the MAC address, an IP address is not physical. With these two addresses, a malicious person can impersonate you and perform other attacks which will, in turn, seem to come from your device.
2. Credenciales de inicio de sesión
With the techniques above, malicious persons can analyze authentication packets which will in turn show login credentials. They might include; FTP logins, email accounts and passwords, and so on. This information can then be used in other hijacking attacks.
3. Archivos enviados/recibidos
Since a malicious person can intercept your traffic, he/she can see what you have been sending and receiving. He/she can further access those files and maybe alter the information or even worse delete them. If they are sensitive, they can be used to blackmail you.
4. Páginas web
Los paquetes capturados pueden revelar a qué se está accediendo en tiempo real.
Cómo estar seguro cuando se conecta a una WIFI pública
Utilizar una VPN
This is the ultimate tool that can help you avoid WIFI based threats and attacks. A reputable VPN proporciona seguridad cifrando todo tu tráfico de Internet. Esto significa que su tráfico de datos será codificado y, aunque sea interceptado, no será útil para la persona malintencionada. Una VPN también enmascara tu dirección IP real, ya que te asigna una nueva dirección virtual.
In addition to security, a VPN can help you unblock and access restricted content in that particular website. It’s a win-win for you.
