Don’t share sensitive information with public Wi-Fi – Advisor

A National Cybersecurity Advisor, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako has advised against the use of public Wi-Fi to share sensitive information.

He said Wi-Fi service providers should endeavor to deploy systems that will protect the passwords of their clients, noting that, every information a client enters using the public Wi-Fi could be intercepted.

“So the advice is, when you are using public Wi-Fi, do not share sensitive information. Don’t go out to the hotel and do your online banking even though we expect the providers of the service to be trusted, no, trust even has to be verified.

The owner of a hotel should be trusted to deploy the internet solution for the legally acceptable use by the visitor. When I put up a Wi-Fi here, I am responsible to make sure that you are protected. However, the reality is that criminals can also set up Wi-Fi that can intercept your credentials. Cyber is not evil, it is the evil of men that has been transported onto the cyber platform,” he said

He advised in his response to a question on the implications of using a public Wi-Fi at a workshop in Bolgatanga.

The program was organized by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) under the Ministry of Communications as part of activities to mark the 2020 Cyber Security awareness month in Ghana.