More and more often we use free hot-spots. However, such points do not have to offer  free access to the Internet. 

Often such points are for one purpose - to gain access to our data. Cybercriminals wait to get data to the bank account, or also a mailbox and social media portals. 

We have to especially watch out for hotspots abroad. Not every free Wi-Fi can give us savings concerning the data transfer, on the contrary someone can steal our digital identity 

Remember that majority of free Wi-Fi networks isn't protected at all, by logging to the bank or to the mailbox , data can be easily intercepted. The good example can be redirecting the user to fake website, on which the swindler asks for giving the access passwords of the bank. 

We can ask ourselves what danger does stealing the login name and the password of the mail box carry? 

The e-mails  can contain viruses, links to the page which tries to steal the password - our friends will open the e-mail sent by "us" with no fear. Our e-mail address is often also a login name to Paypal or Facebook. A cybercriminal who has the password to gmail has also access to other Google services such as Google drive. 

Researchers from F-Secure company , in the cooperation with European Union agency , prepared publicly available hotspot. While connecting to the free hotspot, users had to accept regulations, one of points included the phrase: "the user allows to give away the first-born child to the owners of the network " If the user didn't have a child, he had to select "favourite pet". The users accepted these regulations, because they did not read it. 

To increase the security, it is better to use the Wi-Fi network with the WPA2 protocol. While using free hot-spots, when we don't know who its owner is, do not log on, especially to the banking services. 

Good example can be a verification of hot-spots in the vicinity of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio  by Kaspersky Lab engineers. As many as 25% of 4500 unique access points were not protected using weak protocols of the encryption which could be easily breached by cybercriminals in order to steal users' data. 

How to use free Wi-Fi networks safely? 

- turn off the  option of automatic connection with Wi-Fi networks 

- install  VPN which directs the network traffic through safe networks even the public ones

- do not turn off the firewall and use the antivirus software