{"id":11733,"date":"2025-07-21T00:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T00:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11733\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T00:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T00:57:07","slug":"tsa-warns-all-smartphone-users-do-not-use-these-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11733\/","title":{"rendered":"TSA Warns All Smartphone Users\u2014Do Not Use These Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TSA<\/p>\n

Is public WiFi dangerous?<\/p>\n

AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Holiday season is now upon us. And as we head to airports across the U.S. and overseas, the Transportation Security Administration<\/a> (TSA) has issued new warnings for all smartphone (and PC) users to stay safe and secure at airports while traveling.<\/p>\n

The first warning plays into the controversial risk of juice jacking<\/a>. This is where you\u2019re tricked into plugging your phone into a public charging socket in a hotel or mall or airport. \u201cSo, when you\u2019re at an airport do not plug your phone directly into a USB port. Bring your TSA-compliant power brick or battery pack and plug in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

TSA\u2019s second warning plays into the even more controversial risk of public WiFi<\/a>. Nothing irritates cybersecurity professionals more than blanket warnings about public WiFi, given that most traffic to and from your smartphone is now encrypted.<\/p>\n

ForbesDelete These Texts \u2018Immediately,\u2019 Police Forces WarnBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n

But TSA has warned smartphone users nonetheless. \u201cDon\u2019t use free public WiFi,\u201d it says as one of its \u201ctwo best tips for staying cyber safe at airports while you\u2019re traveling.\u201d That means do not connect to free airport networks as most of us do. This is especially true, it adds, \u201cif you\u2019re planning to make any online purchases,\u201d and also warns \u201cdo not ever enter any sensitive info while using unsecured WiFi.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, is this right? In general, public WiFi is fine \u2014 and that includes airport WiFi. As the FTC<\/a> says \u201cbecause of the widespread use of encryption, connecting through a public Wi-Fi network is usually safe.\u201d But be sure to follow those golden rules when connecting:<\/p>\n

Disable auto-connection to public or unknown WiFi networks
\n Do not download any software or provide any data other than an email address into a captive portal that gate-keeps your access to a WiFi network.
\n Ensure that all website connections are encrypted \u2014 check for the padlock, and do not enter any sign-in information into an unexpected popup on your device.
\n Check the WiFi network identifier carefully before joining \u2014 if it\u2019s a hotel, airport or mall, or even a coffee shop, be sure it\u2019s the official network for the location.
\n VPNs do make you more secure \u2014 but only reputable, paid VPNs from bluechip developers. A free VPN or a Chinese VPN is more dangerous than no VPN at all.
\nForbesApple Warning\u2014Do Not Make These Calls On Your iPhoneBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n

The mobile security specialists at Zimperium<\/a> have just issued their own public WiFi warning for smartphone users \u201cespecially during travel when vigilance is low.\u201d With free public-WiFi everywhere,\u201d they say, \u201cattackers know exactly how to strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zimperium says smartphone settings should be changed to \u201cblock connections to public unsecured WiFi,\u201d with \u201cover 5 Million Public Unsecured Global Wi-Fi networks found since beginning of 2025, with 33% of users connecting to public unsecured networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Echoing TSA\u2019s warning, the team says \u201cduring travel, these risks multiply.\u201d And it\u2019s not just airports. \u201cHotels, ride-share hubs, and caf\u00e9s all offer rich hunting grounds for attackers.\u201d It\u2019s worse overseas, but \u201cmajor U.S. cities like Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Miami, and Seattle are seeing increased mobile malware activity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is public WiFi dangerous? AFP via Getty Images Holiday season is now upon us. And as we head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[11229,11226,49,48,11225,11230,11228,11227,190,11223,61,11224],"class_list":["post-11733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-android-warning","tag-apple-warning","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dangerous-connection","tag-google-do-not-use-networks","tag-google-warning","tag-iphone-warning","tag-mobile","tag-public-wifi-warning","tag-technology","tag-tsa-smartphone-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}