Public Wi-Fi in cafés and airports: why you need a VPN there
Why open Wi-Fi is dangerous, what the hotspot owner and your network neighbour can see, and why a VPN closes those holes. Simple rules for cafés, hotels, stations and airports.
Open Wi-Fi is like talking at full volume in a crowded place. Most sites encrypt traffic these days, but not everything and not always. A VPN encrypts everything at once.
What's visible on an open network
- The hotspot owner sees which sites you connect to, even if the content is encrypted. From a list of sites it's easy to tell where you work and what your life is like.
- A network neighbour can intercept unencrypted requests if they want: old apps, updates, some messengers.
- A fake hotspot named like the café collects passwords on fake sign-in pages.
What a VPN changes
Your whole device talks only to Surok's server through an encrypted tunnel. The hotspot owner sees one connection and nothing inside. A fake sign-in page won't work: DNS goes inside the tunnel, so a site's address can't be spoofed on the café network.
Rules for travelling
- Turn the VPN on before opening your bank or email, not after.
- In the Surok app enable "Connect right at launch", then you can't forget.
- Don't type passwords on Wi-Fi sign-in pages if they ask for anything beyond a phone number.
- Turn off auto-connect to open networks in your phone settings.
Hotels and airports abroad
There's a twist there: Russian sites often don't open from abroad or demand verification. Surok's apps open Russian addresses directly and everything else via Europe, so your bank and Gosuslugi keep working. More in the knowledge base.