Online Safety · 5 min read
How to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi is less dangerous than it was a decade ago, because nearly all traffic is now encrypted in transit. The remaining risks are real but specific.
Published 2026-08-09 · Last updated 2026-08-09
What HTTPS already handles
The classic coffee-shop attack — reading your passwords off the air — is largely solved. With HTTPS, an observer sees which domains you contact, not the contents of your sessions.
What remains a risk
Rogue access points with names imitating the venue, captive portals that request more information than they need, unpatched devices exposed to other clients on the same network, and file sharing left enabled from a home network profile.
Practical steps
Mark the network as Public in Windows so discovery and sharing are disabled. Keep the firewall on. Use a VPN if you frequently work from open networks. Never install software or certificates a captive portal asks for. Prefer your phone's hotspot when doing anything financial.
- Set the network profile to Public
- Keep Windows Firewall enabled
- Use a VPN on open networks
- Refuse portal-installed certificates or software
- Use mobile data for banking where possible
Frequently asked questions
- Do I really need a VPN on public Wi-Fi?
- It is useful but not essential for HTTPS browsing. It matters most if you want to hide which sites you visit from the network operator.
- Can someone hack my laptop on public Wi-Fi?
- Only if it is unpatched or sharing services with the network. Updates plus a Public network profile close most of that gap.