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Wi-Fi hotspots can be a gift sent from above, but it is not exactly as heavenly as one would wish it would be. For one, good luck on being able to catch it on the first try. There are probably a million and one other people like you squeezed into that tiny bit of airspace. And then, of course, there is the question of information security.

The very nature of free, public hotspots – open and unencrypted – make machines connected to them vulnerable to questionable “beings”. There is a chance that any information that you will transmit using your laptop or smart phone may be intercepted by another person and used for things that you will not approve of, and without your knowledge. Hence, it is important to stay protected, and PC World’s Jeff Bertolucci has a few tips, courtesy of consultation with the industry trade group Wi-Fi Alliance.

The first tip is to not set your device up to automatically connect to any available network that it detects. There are devices that come off the line configured to do just that, and this is the usual case for mobile phones and gaming devices. It is important for you to know exactly what kind of network your device is connected to. If you decide to connect to a public network with its unsecure nature, you can refrain from sending certain information using that network.

Business data and other sensitive information are best sent using a virtual private network, or VPN. This creates “an encrypted, private link across a public network”. Ask your IT team about VPN when going on a trip where you might need to work using a public network. During my stint as an analyst, this was something that we were required to use when travelling or working from home.

While you are at the airport or the mall, you can spend your lay-over time surfing and catching up on your reading – but do not pay your bills or shop online, unless, of course, you can use VPN. Just save these activities for when you are in a more secure network.

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