Many businesses (e.g. airports, coffee shops, libraries, and shopping centres) offer free Wi-Fi for their customers to use. This is good for getting you online quickly and cheaply but they’re also convenient for malicious actors to monitor your online activity and compromise sensitive information. Give yourself an immediate cybersecurity boost with these tips.

• Only enter sensitive information (e.g. payment card data) using secure Wi-Fi networks. Try and avoid sending sensitive data over insecure public Wi-Fi networks (e.g. airports and coffee shops) to protect your web activity from being intercepted. Watch out for Wi-Fi networks that disguise illegitimate ones to steal personal information or distribute malware.
• Turn off automatic connections to Wi-Fi networks. Turn off the automatic connection feature within your Wi-Fi settings to prevent your device from connecting to an unsecured Wi-Fi network without your knowledge.
• Turn off automatic file sharing. Turn off automatic file-sharing to prevent your data from being accidentally sent to another device without your knowledge.
• If you’re on a University campus, use Eduroam for secure Wi-Fi. You can find more information about Eduroam on the Knowledge Base here: https://itservicecentre.derby.ac.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360001368925-Eduroam-Wireless-Network.
• If in doubt, don’t connect to, enter sensitive information on, or download files from websites over unsecured public Wi-Fi networks.