Let us all agree that the internet is no longer want. It has become a necessity. We are habituated to staying connected to the internet, even when asleep! Getting disconnected, even momentarily, from the internet causes us to panic and become restless.

Among the total population of over 8 billion, around 6.04 billion are connected to the internet. That is a whopping 73.2% of world population! And the average time spent by them on the internet is around 6 hours, 54 minutes. 

All these numbers indicate that the world is more connected to the internet than ever before. It is mainly due to the affordability and accessibility of the internet. There is a connection almost everywhere we go, be it cafes, restaurants, airports, railway stations, hotels, etc. However, connecting to them may be riskier than we realize.

Let us take a look at some of the dangers of using public Wi-Fi. If you are someone who uses public Wi-Fi without knowing much about the security measures for secure access, then you must consider these.

How unsafe is public Wi-Fi?

Connecting to public Wi-Fi without any protection measures is always a bad idea. This is because everything that you do on the internet can be exposed to cyber criminals looking for exploitable information, such as your bank information or your shopping information.

They can simply use your credentials to commit far more dangerous cybercrimes. Cybercriminals can go so far as to create a honeypot that you may mistakenly connect to as a genuine Wi-Fi network. They may use the information that you give them, such as passwords, login credentials, and other sensitive information.

Some interesting facts worth considering

(Sources – pandasecurity, broadband search, 2025)

• Only 35.3% of users say that they use public Wi-Fi only for non-sensitive activities.
• Around 59% of people use public Wi-Fi networks for accessing Personal Email ID
• Only 33% use VPN while using public Wi-Fi
• 5% of people believe that public Wi-Fi is not safe at all
• 26% of people connect to public Wi-Fi for work email

The 10 dangers of using public Wi-Fi

The following are 10 of the most dangerous cyber threats and risks associated with connecting to public Wi-Fi:

1. Snooping

Hackers can snoop on your data once you connect to compromised and insecure public Wi-Fi. They can engage in profiling your digital identity and use it for malicious purposes. If you don’t use any kind of internet protection, then they can gain easy access to your Wi-Fi usage, gaining access to your location, files on your laptop or mobile, your passwords, pics, social media information, etc.

2. Malware injection through honeypots or evil twin attacks

When you connect to a public Wi-Fi network, there is a good chance that the network is not legitimate. It can be a “honeypot network,” which is a Wi-Fi network with a similar name injected with malware to extract your information once you connect to it. This usually happens in hotels. The attacker may also create a super-identical network with auto-connect enabled without your knowledge, also known as an “evil twin” network.

3. Man-in-the-middle-attack

Advanced hackers engage in man-in-the-middle attacks, where they intercept a public Wi-Fi to manipulate or steal the data that is exchanged between the user and the website that he is visiting or another user that he is communicating with. The attacker may manipulate data that is exchanged or communicated between two parties without their knowledge.

4. Social engineering/Phishing attacks

Hackers can snoop on your data once you connect to compromised and insecure public Wi-Fi. They can engage in profiling your digital identity and use it for malicious purposes. If you don’t use any kind of internet protection, then they can gain easy access to your Wi-Fi usage, gaining access to your location, files on your laptop or mobile, your passwords, pics, social media information, etc.

5. Identity or account information theft

Be careful when you share any form of sharing of personal information. A hacker can install a keylogger on a public computer connected to public Wi-Fi. So whatever information you are sharing/inputting/exchanging over a network can be accessible to the hacker. He may use the information to engage in identity theft or steal your banking information, lock you out of your account, make large transactions, or use your identity to commit crimes.

6. Password Theft

Many public Wi-Fi networks are not encrypted. It can put the data transmitted over the internet at risk. Hackers may use malicious software to crack weak passwords or gain access to accounts connected over public Wi-Fi. Not using two-factor authentication can increase the vulnerability to password theft when connected to a public network.

7. Ransomware attacks

2026 will see an increase in ransomware attacks where cybercriminals will be looking for public networks with weak security. America had the highest number of ransomware attacks in 2025 (52%) followed by the United Kingdom (6%) attacks and Germany (6%). Ransomware attackers look for public networks where they can create a malicious twin network through which they can deploy malware to the systems connected to the public network.

8. Business email compromise attacks

When an employee of a big company is connected to a public network for work, he can be vulnerable to cyber attackers. Once the attackers gain information specific to an organization, they may then deploy social engineering techniques to devise business email compromise attacks. It is an advanced form of phishing attack where the attacker impersonates a trustworthy employee, trying to get his victim to engage in divulging company secrets or making a money transfer.

9. Eavesdropping using Wi-Fi Pineapple

2026 will see an increase in attackers using publicly accessible means to carry out attacks. Ethical hackers use a device called Wi-Fi Pineapple to assess network security. Hackers use this device to steal data from users connected to a public network. What makes it dangerous is that it is easily available on e-commerce platforms and allows even novice hackers to carry out attacks over public networks. Wi-Fi Pineapple is dangerous because an attack orchestrated using it also threatens users who have already implemented protection measures.  

10. Hardware/Device manipulation

Most IoT devices (smart watches, smart bands, etc.) come with weak security settings by default. Due to this, devices connected over public Wi-Fi networks can become vulnerable to cybersecurity risks. There is a 15% year-over-year increase in the average device risk with routers and IoT devices accounting for majority of devices carrying most critical vulnerabilities (Forescout,2025). Attackers can send too many requests and overwhelm the public Wi-Fi network. They can leverage multiple IoT devices connected to the network through a botnet attack, infecting them with malware-driven zombie bots.