Free cheese is only found in mousetraps
You’re waiting for your flight when a shady character with some device approaches you. “Hey, mind if I tap into your phone real quick? I’ll listen to your calls, read your messages, maybe grab some files. Don’t worry – I’ll give you two bucks for your trouble!”
You’d tell them exactly where to go, right? Probably call security. Yet somehow, we do precisely this – voluntarily and without hesitation – every time we connect to free airport WiFi to save those same two dollars.
The difference? Invisible threats don’t trigger our survival instincts. We wouldn’t walk alone through a dangerous neighborhood at night – we can see that risk, feel it. But digital danger? Silent, odorless, abstract. Which makes it no less real.
Let’s drag it into the light, and you’ll make your own call.
So you connect to airport WiFi – no alarm bells, nothing dangerous. Just smooth jazz and shiny Duty Free shops. What exactly did you just connect to, for free?
Public WiFi is a network in cafes, airports, hotels, and other public spaces that anyone within signal range can join. By design, these networks are unsecured to ensure convenience and quick access. This means that the connection between your device and the router is either completely unencrypted or uses a shared password that everyone knows.
The openness of public Wi‑Fi isn’t negligence – it’s a side effect of convenience and a necessary trade-off.
True personal encryption requires more complex solutions, like WPA2-Enterprise with individual logins and certificates. But that’s expensive, complicated, and confusing for most users — and, more importantly, it goes against the very idea of “quick and easy access for everyone.”
There are three main types of public Wi‑Fi networks:
1) Open networks (no password) – NO ENCRYPTION.
Anyone can join, and the traffic between your device and the router is completely unencrypted.
Picture it like this: you walk into a crowded tourist square, and there… everyone’s naked, including you. Okay, not naked exactly, but all your phone calls are playing out loud – everyone can hear both you and whoever’s on the other end. Your messenger chats (even the most private ones) are displayed on giant screens. Your passwords and personal data are neatly printed on a badge hanging from your neck.
Most people won’t be paying attention to you. But a curious and not even particularly advanced hacker can easily:
- eavesdrop on your unencrypted traffic,
- inject malicious content,
- redirect you to fake websites,
- steal your cookies and login credentials.
Even if you see “https” in the address bar, it’s not a guarantee: an attacker can try to downgrade your connection to unsecured HTTP or send you to a convincing fake.
You don’t even have to look around to spot them – they might have compromised the access point days ago. They’re no longer in the square. They’re in the admin panel, watching your traffic from the other side of the world in real time.
2) Public Wi‑Fi networks with a shared password (like “Airport_WiFi”, password “12345678”) — PSEUDO-ENCRYPTION.
Some people think WiFi with a password means security. It feels safer – after all, the connection is encrypted with WPA2, right? But in reality, everyone knows the same shared password, which means the encryption key is identical for everyone, and any other user on the network can potentially decrypt your traffic.
Now imagine that same crowded square, but this time every single person is handed the exact same key. They all use it to unlock the same door and step into one giant shared room. Usually, this key is like the one for your mailbox (the kind you could open with a paperclip). Or maybe it looks more like a vault key – but it doesn’t matter. Everyone has the same one.
So you walk in, and there… All conversations are still audible, all messages still visible, all passwords still exposed to everyone in the room.
And yes, unfortunately, that shady character might not even be at the airport or cafe with you anymore. They could have been there earlier with that same key, compromised the network, and now they’re monitoring everyone’s traffic from their couch – and the network owner might not even know.
3) Public WiFi networks with phone number registration (my personal “favorite”)
You enter your phone number and get access — often with a friendly redirect to the hotel’s welcome page or a splash of ads.
It creates the illusion of individualized security. But in reality, this setup is the closest thing to an open network without a password.
They just identified you at the door – logged that a device with MAC address X and phone number Y had access from 10:42 to 11:42. But they didn’t protect your traffic in any way. It remains unencrypted.
So why did they bother asking for your number?
Ah, that’s a story for another time – and a good one, I promise.
To stick with our metaphor: it’s like there’s a bouncer at the entrance to the giant shared room, writing down the phone numbers of everyone who walks in.
He knows who entered, but he doesn’t care what happens inside.
Conversations still echo across the room, messages are on full display, your passwords are just lying around in plain sight.
In the next article, I’ll tell you exactly what can be stolen, how, and what it might cost you.
But for now, just think about this: if that crowded square were visible, would you step onto it to save a couple of dollars?
Using public Wi‑Fi isn’t a crime. It’s a choice. Now you simply know what you’re choosing when you hit “Connect.”
Or maybe it’s better to carry your own internet with you—reliable, encrypted, no surprises:
Why MTX Connect Means Security: The Private Network Story
Stay safe and MTX-connected.
Jan Verny,
MTX Connect Chronicler