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Is public Wifi really safe with a VPN ?
- Thread starter max2
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For the most part yes.
Longer answer is still yes but you tend to be unsafe during the window of time before your vpn connects as on modern machines they do tend to make a lot of internet calls when they get access to the internet. Your mail will update other things might update because it sees internet access.
As soon as the vpn connects this is a non issue. Now if vpn drops or is requiring same issues as above.
So short answer is yes with a but.
Longer answer is still yes but you tend to be unsafe during the window of time before your vpn connects as on modern machines they do tend to make a lot of internet calls when they get access to the internet. Your mail will update other things might update because it sees internet access.
As soon as the vpn connects this is a non issue. Now if vpn drops or is requiring same issues as above.
So short answer is yes with a but.
Thank you.
What if you already logged into your banking when you were at home but when on public wifi you do not use a vpn or forget to use one ? Can they still steal your password?
You'll also want to turn off any file sharing or airdrop. Making sure your firewall is on is good. Also many VPN offer the option of automatically locking all network activity. If the VPN goes down.
Unlikely, unless the bank is a complete POS. Not encrypting their connection.
Unlikely, unless the bank is a complete POS. Not encrypting their connection.
i would avoide using it
instead teather to your iPhone and run cell data
4example; if you jsut start up lap top at a coffee shop, it takes a miniutite or two for the VPN app to fully organize it self. Maybe your inital VPN city server selection is bussy and after several tries it failes you sitll sitting there on a public wifi sorta not covered.
instead teather to your iPhone and run cell data
4example; if you jsut start up lap top at a coffee shop, it takes a miniutite or two for the VPN app to fully organize it self. Maybe your inital VPN city server selection is bussy and after several tries it failes you sitll sitting there on a public wifi sorta not covered.
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Using a vpn and public WiFi is as safe as your vpn provider. If you trust the vpn provider then no worries.
All I know my eyes were wide opened when I started using the reverse firewall Little Snitch! It saved my butt about mysterious outgoing on cookies from web sites that were calling home constantly! That really bothered me because it wasn’t upgrade request either so I blocked their outputs!
The suspect gains access to the users' banking credentials, account passwords, and other sensitive information mostly by using public networks so be careful when using public Wi-Fi because it is inherently unsafe.
Using a VPN would be a good and a safe choice but only If you have paid or genuine VPN not like free vpn's and a good firewall would also be a great protection from any kind of suspicious attack.
Using a VPN would be a good and a safe choice but only If you have paid or genuine VPN not like free vpn's and a good firewall would also be a great protection from any kind of suspicious attack.
I use a VPN 24/7 on my main laptop but, to be entirely honest, public WiFi is not the danger it used to be because virtually everything - and certainly stuff like banking, email, messaging, social media, etc - use modern TLS (HTTPS) connections.
Unless you have an old device that can only accept outdated TLS connections with known vulnerabilities (TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are not safe, TLS 1.2 and 1.3 are good) it is very difficult for an attacker on the network to intercept your traffic.
And if you are running outdated software, the bigger issue is your OS will have unpatched vulnerabilities.
So update your OS and all software running on your computer, enable the firewall and set it to stealth mode and block all incoming connections, and honestly you'll likely be fine. Your internet traffic is encrypted and the only way to hack into your computer would be with a zero day, but a VPN would not prevent that anyway.
If you are concerned about the possibility of a zero day being exploited (it is a remote possibility, but a possibility nonetheless) then use a mobile hotspot as others have mentioned.
Unless you have an old device that can only accept outdated TLS connections with known vulnerabilities (TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are not safe, TLS 1.2 and 1.3 are good) it is very difficult for an attacker on the network to intercept your traffic.
And if you are running outdated software, the bigger issue is your OS will have unpatched vulnerabilities.
So update your OS and all software running on your computer, enable the firewall and set it to stealth mode and block all incoming connections, and honestly you'll likely be fine. Your internet traffic is encrypted and the only way to hack into your computer would be with a zero day, but a VPN would not prevent that anyway.
If you are concerned about the possibility of a zero day being exploited (it is a remote possibility, but a possibility nonetheless) then use a mobile hotspot as others have mentioned.