Are Your Shared Files At Risk on a Hotel Wifi Network?
A thing we're always told to do when using public wifi in a hotel (or any other place) is to disable file sharing.
Okay, that sounds like an intelligent thing to do, but do you know why? Can someone on the same public network we are on actually access our files?
Hubs and Nodes
About 20% of hotels still use an antiquated hub-based wifi network, in which all Internet communication from each guest is sent to every other connection.
In theory, each connection or "node" is only supposed to view traffic and access files that are intended for them, and dismiss the rest. But it's very simple for a hacker to switch their laptop's network card to promiscuous mode, which allows them to see all the information traveling from each node on the network, as well as access files from each node that has enabled file sharing.
The majority of hotels use a network switch instead of a hub-based network, which doesn't give hackers the ability to access your shared files.
So how can you tell if a hotel or other type of public network is hub-based? The scary thing is, you can't.
Public Wifi and File Sharing
Here's how it works: if you have file sharing switched on (and your firewall is configured to allow for file sharing) once you log into a hub-based wifi network, your folders and files can be seen by anyone else in the same network.
Does your place of business have a network drive where everyone stores their personal and shared files? It's very similar to that .
Now do you understand the risks? Good! So before you ever access another wifi hotspot in a hotel or any other place for that matter, turn off file sharing. It's simply a smart thing to do to protect your privacy.
How to Turn Off File Sharing
If you use a PC, you can turn off file sharing by doing the following:
1. Go to the Control Panel.
2. Select Network and Internet > Network Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings.
3. Turn off the options for network discovery, file and print sharing, and public folder sharing for public networks.
4. Click Save changes.
For a Mac:
1. Go to System Preferences > Sharing.
2. Ensure that the File Sharing option is not enabled. If it is enabled (if File Sharing has a checkmark next to it), uncheck it.
Other things that can make you more secure, use a secure firewall and use a personal VPN like PRIVATE WiFi™.
Okay, that sounds like an intelligent thing to do, but do you know why? Can someone on the same public network we are on actually access our files?
Hubs and Nodes
About 20% of hotels still use an antiquated hub-based wifi network, in which all Internet communication from each guest is sent to every other connection.
In theory, each connection or "node" is only supposed to view traffic and access files that are intended for them, and dismiss the rest. But it's very simple for a hacker to switch their laptop's network card to promiscuous mode, which allows them to see all the information traveling from each node on the network, as well as access files from each node that has enabled file sharing.
The majority of hotels use a network switch instead of a hub-based network, which doesn't give hackers the ability to access your shared files.
So how can you tell if a hotel or other type of public network is hub-based? The scary thing is, you can't.
Public Wifi and File Sharing
Here's how it works: if you have file sharing switched on (and your firewall is configured to allow for file sharing) once you log into a hub-based wifi network, your folders and files can be seen by anyone else in the same network.
Does your place of business have a network drive where everyone stores their personal and shared files? It's very similar to that .
Now do you understand the risks? Good! So before you ever access another wifi hotspot in a hotel or any other place for that matter, turn off file sharing. It's simply a smart thing to do to protect your privacy.
How to Turn Off File Sharing
If you use a PC, you can turn off file sharing by doing the following:
1. Go to the Control Panel.
2. Select Network and Internet > Network Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings.
3. Turn off the options for network discovery, file and print sharing, and public folder sharing for public networks.
4. Click Save changes.
For a Mac:
1. Go to System Preferences > Sharing.
2. Ensure that the File Sharing option is not enabled. If it is enabled (if File Sharing has a checkmark next to it), uncheck it.
Other things that can make you more secure, use a secure firewall and use a personal VPN like PRIVATE WiFi™.