Public Wi-Fi without the drama
Open networks in cafés, hotels and airports are usable if you know which one you joined and what you do on it.
Join the right network
Anyone can start a network called “Airport Free Wi-Fi”. Ask the staff for the exact name, and be wary when two networks have almost the same one.
Switch off automatic joining of open networks. Otherwise your phone will connect to any network whose name it remembers, wherever it happens to appear.
Look at the address bar
Almost every site now uses an encrypted connection, shown by https and the padlock. On such a site other people on the network cannot read what you send. If the browser warns about a certificate, stop. On public Wi-Fi that warning is rarely an accident.
A sign-in page that appears by itself after you connect belongs to the network. It should ask for a room number or an email address at most, never for the password of your mail or your bank.
For anything important
Use your phone as a hotspot for banking and for work systems. Mobile data does not pass through the café’s equipment.
Turn off file and printer sharing when the system asks whether the network is public, and remove the network from the saved list when you leave.
This note is our own plain-language summary. For the full guidance, read the original: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Wireless-Security.pdf
Ask for the network name at the counter. Do not guess it from the list.