WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Public Wi-Fi makes it easy to always stay connected, but 22News explains what you need to do in order to keep your personal information private.

Whether you’re at a coffee shop, restaurant or airport, chances are there’s free Wi-Fi available. Although public Wi-Fi is convenient, experts caution that there are some things you need to be aware of. Connecting to public Wi-Fi can make it easy to get things done on the go. Computer experts warn that public Wi-Fi is oftentimes unsecure.

President of NetLogix, Marco Liquori told 22News public Wi-Fi can allow hackers to gain access to your personal information such as banking passwords and credit card information. “The biggest thing with the public Wi-Fi spots is that it’s open by nature, it’s unencrypted and anybody can see everything you’re doing.”

There are things you can do to keep your information protected. Liqouri told 22News it’s important to make sure your systems and virus software’s are up to date, and that firewalls are enabled.

Liquori told 22News that when connecting to public Wi-Fi it’s important to disable any file sharing on your devices, and to always select the public network option to ensure that your personal information stays secure.

Source: https://www.wwlp.com/news/free-wi-fi-not-always-safe-wi-fi/