Public WiFi
Hotel WiFi is not your friend.
Most credential theft against African travelers happens on “free” airport, mall and hotel WiFi. Antivirus.com VPN gives you the playbook to survive it.
Threats
What can happen on open WiFi
Fake captive portals
Attackers spin up cloned hotel login pages that steal email + password combos.
Session hijacking
Unencrypted cookies allow attackers to step into your banking, social and email sessions.
DNS poisoning
Malicious routers point your apps to spoofed banking and payment hosts.
Evil twins
A laptop running a hotspot named “Airport WiFi” intercepts everything you do.
Drive-by malware
Captive portals can deliver Android malware disguised as “WiFi optimizer” downloads.
Stalkerware sync
Public WiFi gives spyware on a compromised device a chance to phone home.
Playbook
The Antivirus.com public WiFi checklist
1. Connect to VPN BEFORE you load the captive portal
Most exploits rely on the portal seeing your real IP first.
2. Disable auto-connect
Stop your phone from silently re-joining hotel networks you used last week.
3. Turn off sharing
Disable AirDrop, NFC and SMB on shared networks.
4. Use Antivirus.com app browsing
Our scanner flags malicious captive portals and known-bad WiFi SSIDs.
5. Treat banking as off-limits
Use mobile data for banking until you’re back home, even with a VPN.
6. Forget the network
Tap “Forget network” when you leave so credentials are not auto-replayed.