Megan Singleton: BloggerAtLarge writer on the risks that come with using free airport wi-fi

Free airport wi-fi could cost travellers in other ways, as some unlucky users found out the hard way.

An Australian man has been arrested for setting up fake public networks to harvest people's data and steal sensitive information.

BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton says people need to be cautious and not sign in via social media - and only check bank information on personal networks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSTB. Travel with Wendy wu Tours unique fully
inclusive tours around the world.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yes, time to Talk Travel, and Megan Singleton, blogger at
large dot com, joins us now. Good morning, Good morning.
Interesting story this week about using free Wi Fi in airports.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Exactly well, I'm referring to this as my public service
announcement actually for the week about the dangers of using
a free Wi Fi service when we travel. After a
perthman was arrested for stealing flyers information on board when
he set up a bogus Wi Fi and made it
look like the airlines Wi Fi. So he was caught

(00:55):
by airline staff who noticed a suspicious Wi Fi network
on board and he was harvesting people's data from on
the plane. I didn't ever know that could happen, to
be honest, So he'd been doing it on flights and
at airports.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Because I love it. You sent through some notes and
you said, I think we all know not to check
our bank accounts or types of you know, passwords when
using free hotel or airport or city Wi Fi. And
I was going no, I just take free Wi Fi.
I take free WiFi wherever I can get it when
I'm traveling.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Yeah, and how easy is it for someone to set
up a Wi Fi account called, you know, Auckland City
Free Wi Fi or Air New Zealand Wi Fi on
board the plane And it's actually not. So that's what
this guy had. He had these devices to just harvest
people's material. So what they're saying is to avoid it.

(01:49):
You never should need to log in with any personal
details when you're using a free Wi Fi spot like,
you shouldn't have to log in through your social media.
You shouldn't have to give your email address. And if
you think about when you do log in to city
WiFi or even Air New Zealand's WiFi, all you do
is you find the right channel and you accept their
trems and conditions and that is all you should do.

(02:10):
So I guess that's just a little reminder. And then
I never would open my bank accounts or do anything
like that when I'm using not my own data plan.
So you can check on your phone, am I using
a hotel Wi Fi or a free city WiFi? If so,
I won't check my bank and if I'm using my
own five G, four G whatever, then I know that

(02:31):
that's safe, that's my plan, and I can log in
and check that out. The other thing you could use
is a VPN, have a virtual private network and that
encrypts your data. So if you are somewhere abroad and
you know you're needing to access some things that might
have your details, you can use a VPN. You can

(02:52):
actually download those there, you know what. They're quite handy
to have if you want to just be browsing like
you're living in another country. For example, if you wanted
to get onto chip and Joanna gains is Magnolia Marketplace website.
This is just a big bugbear of mine. They are
banned outside of the US for any browsing. You can't
look at their shops or anything. So use your VPN,
pretend you're in America and then you can go looking

(03:14):
at Magnolia market Is service.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
And now right, yeah, you're allowed to have a VPN.
You're not. You're not you're not a sharing illegal tips
with us, Megan.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
No, no, no, no no no. So all that does
is it just encrypts your your whereabouts. So a lot
of people use them win traveling, like if you're in
a place like China, you can't access a lot of
websites without a VPN, so it's essential for traveling to
places that you still need to access your work or
your own social media accounts or whatever. Even the New

(03:46):
Zealand Herald. You probably won't be able to get that
in some countries where where that sort of media is banned.
So you do need a VPN, and then you can
just say, oh, I'm in Singapore, or you just look
at all the signals that come up as to where
you can be.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
And so it's pretty easy to use for someone like
me who is the useless with technology. It basically just
says that you're somewhere you're not. That's all that you
can activate it and it says right, okay.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, totally where you want to be.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Full of useful tips this morning, Meghan, You're welcome. Thank
you so much. Good to catch up with you. We
will talk to you next week. That was Meghan Singleton.
Of course, you can read all her travel blogs at
blogger at large dot com.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio