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Sat in a coffee shop yesterday and watched someone do their banking on public WiFi

I was grabbing a latte at a Brew & Bean downtown around 3pm, and this guy at the table next to me logged into his bank account without a VPN or anything. It just hit me how easy it would be for someone to scoop up that info over the same network, especially since the password was something like "coffee123". Made me wonder how many people do the same thing without thinking. Any of you ever spot risky behavior like that out in the wild?
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2 Comments
sama80
sama801mo ago
Public WiFi is basically a free buffet for anyone with a laptop and a little know how. Saw a guy tap his card at a gas station pump once with the security tape still flapping off. People forget that anyone on the same network can see the data packets flying around, including login pages if they're not encrypted right. Best rule is treat public WiFi like a crowded bus where everyone can read over your shoulder. Stick to using your phone's hotspot for anything financial, or at least a good VPN if you absolutely have to check your accounts. That password though, yikes.
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jadep41
jadep411mo ago
What if the real threat isn't hackers but the coffee shop itself logging keystrokes?
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