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So many tech experts are in agreement about this one: there’s a common iPhone mistake that many people make that can really put your phone at risk. And when we say “your phone,” we mean: it can result in stolen data and an invasion of privacy that puts YOU at risk. The good news is that it’s easy enough to avoid, but will require some thought and planning. Before you leave your house, plan on working from a coffee shop, or decide to take a long drive and rely on your device for an internet connection along the way, keep this one in mind: this is the worst mistake you can make with your iPhone that puts your security at risk.
Using Public WiFi Without A Secure Network
This mistake is so dreaded among tech experts that Patrick Sinclair, founder and techie at Allhomerobotics.com, actually called it the “cyber security of suicide.” Do not, under any circumstances (no matter how desperate you feel in the moment to look something up online) — do NOT connect your phone to a public WiFi network without a secure VP.
“These networks are not secure, and all of your traffic is prone to being intercepted by anyone else on the network,” Sinclair says. “Hackers love to go hunting at coffee shops to see who they can catch off guard on the public network. Never access any secure sites on these networks such as online banking, never enter any private information, and most importantly, never ever browse on them without a VPN turned on.”
Furthermore, Sinclair says, he doesn’t just mean any VPN. “Fun fact: VPNs can actually access all the private information you enter into websites,” Sinclair warns. “As such, it's smart to buy a subscription from a premium VPN service. The free ones work, sure, but they have to get their money somewhere and you'd best not risk them getting it by selling out your personal data.”
Cindy Corpis, CEO of SearchPeopleFree, advises taking things one step further when you’re out in public by never automatically connecting to WiFi networks in the area. “The possibility of your iPhone automatically connecting to a saved Wi-Fi location raises the possibility of a ‘Man in the Middle’ attack, in which a cybercriminal lures you into connecting to a rogue wireless access point,” Corpis says. “It is advised that iPhone users turn off the auto-join mechanism for any saved, open Wi-Fi hotspot. This prevents a hacker from utilizing the same service set identification (SSID) as a rogue access point to divert traffic via their device and steal your data.”
To turn off Auto-Join go to Settings and tap on Wifi. Tap the Wifi network that you want to turn off and toggle it off — then repeat for all networks.
