Beware of trouble when logging into free Wi-Fi

Australian authorities have arrested a 42-year-old man on charges of creating fake public Wi-Fi networks, tricking users into accessing fraudulent websites.

The incident began in April when an airline employee in Australia discovered a suspicious Wi-Fi network on a domestic flight. It was not until the end of June that Australian police discovered the person behind it when the man continued to take a new flight. When searching the 42-year-old man's luggage, police discovered suspicious devices including a wireless transmitter, a laptop and a mobile phone.

After searching his home in Western Australia, police arrested him on charges of cybercrime, including creating fake public Wi-Fi networks to trick people into connecting to them. The activity was seen in places he visited, including airports in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide, and on flights.

A West Australian man has been arrested over an alleged scam involving fake public wi-fi networks set up at Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide airports and on flights. Photo: Australian Federal Police

Police said that when users connect, the fake wi-fi network will redirect them to a website that pretends to be a social networking service, asking users to provide their email or login information.

"This information was then saved to the man's device, which could have been used to access other personal information, including online communications, photos, videos or banking information" – The Guardian quoted the Australian police's accusations.

This method of attack via wi-fi is called "evil twin", often done by creating a wi-fi network with a name similar to the wi-fi of a store, cafe, public place, or giving it a popular name to confuse users and connect.

This method can also mimic the name and password, taking advantage of the device's automatic connection mechanism to make the phone or computer access the fake wifi. It is often recorded in crowded places with many connection points, such as airports, train stations, wharves, bus stations or shopping malls.

In addition to redirecting to fake websites, hackers can also perform MitM (Man-in-the-Middle) attacks, which means intervening between the user's connection to the internet. From there, the bad guys can control the packets transmitted, applied to services using old protocols such as http.

Cybersecurity experts say the habit of using free Wi-Fi poses a risk of evil twin attacks. Therefore, users are advised to be cautious when connecting to free public Wi-Fi.

"Users need to make sure that it is the website they intend to open, has an https certificate in the address bar and stop immediately if the browser shows an unsafe warning" - the expert emphasized and advised users that in an emergency, they can connect to 4G from their personal mobile devices.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/coi-chung-gap-hoa-khi-dang-nhap-wi-fi-chua-196240630145219924.htm