We've all been there: you're at the airport with a long layover, or at a cafe trying to get some work done. You see "Free Airport Wi-Fi" and connect without thinking. You might have just handed your personal data to a criminal.
Attack Vector 1: The "Evil Twin"
One of the easiest hacks to pull off is the "Evil Twin" attack. A hacker sets up a Wi-Fi hotspot on their laptop or phone and names it something credible, like "Starbucks_Guest" or "Free_Airport_WiFi".
Your phone sees it, realizes it's open (no password), and connects. Now, all your internet traffic—your emails, passwords, and photos—passes through the hacker's device before reaching the internet. They can read everything.
Attack Vector 2: Man-in-the-Middle (MitM)
Even on legitimate networks, if the router isn't secure (and public ones rarely are), a hacker on the same network can use tools to poison the network routing tables (ARP Spoofing). This tricks your phone into thinking the hacker's laptop is the router.
🛡️ How Stop Stalker Helps
Run a Network Scan as soon as you connect. If you see dozens of unknown devices, or duplicate gateway addresses, disconnect immediately.
Attack Vector 3: Packet Sniffing
On an unencrypted network (Open Wi-Fi), radio waves broadcast your data in every direction. Anyone with a $20 Wi-Fi antenna and free software like Wireshark can "sniff" these packets out of the air and reconstruct your browsing session.
The Golden Rules of Public Wi-Fi
- Use a VPN: A Virtual Private Network creates an encrypted tunnel for your data. Even if a hacker intercepts it, they only see gibberish.
- Use Cellular Data: If you have data to spare, 5G/4G is infinitely more secure than public Wi-Fi.
- Disable "Auto-Join": Don't let your phone connect to open networks automatically.
- HTTPS Only: Ensure websites you visit have the lock icon.