Public wi-fi and VPNs: when you really need one

For years the travel advice ran: do not connect to public wi-fi without a VPN, because anyone can read your passwords. That scenario has changed a good deal, and it is better to update the advice than to repeat it.

What has changed

Practically all web traffic is encrypted end to end, so whoever is on the same network does not see the content of what you are doing. What can be seen is which domains you connect to, and not much more.

What a VPN is for today

• So the network you are passing through does not see which services you connect to.
• To reach company resources that require one.
• For services that behave differently depending on the country you connect from.
• And as an extra layer on networks you do not trust at all.

What it does NOT do: it will not protect you from a fake site, a fraudulent link or a weak password. Those threats are still real.

The threats that remain on a public network

1. Fake networks with credible names posing as the airport's or the hotel's.
2. Sign-in portals asking for more personal details than they need.
3. Sessions that expire halfway through something.
4. And the classic: leaving the phone unlocked on the table.

What to look at before connecting is in free airport wi-fi.

The simplest alternative

Using your own mobile data for anything that matters. No foreign network in between, no portal asking for details and nobody to trust. For banking and admin it is faster than arguing about VPNs.

And a legal warning

In some countries the use of these tools is regulated or restricted. Before installing anything for a trip, it is worth checking the rules of the destination country.