My hotel router got hijacked at a conference in Columbus

Stayed at a Marriott during a work event and my laptop kept routing to a fake login page for the WiFi. Called the front desk and they had no clue what I was talking about, turns out someone set up a rogue access point near the lobby. Now I always VPN before connecting to any hotel network, has anyone else run into this at big chain hotels?

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hugo_hayes1mo ago

Read a piece about this last month, said fake hotel WiFi is way more common than people think, especially at conferences where tons of folks are typing in credit card info and work logins. The scammers just need a laptop and a hotspot gadget, they don't even have to be that close to the lobby to pull it off. Front desk staff rarely get trained on spotting this stuff, so they're not much help when you flag it. VPN is the only real shield, but even that won't save you if you type your password into the fake page before the VPN kicks in. Always double check the exact network name with the hotel staff, and better yet, ask for the ethernet cable in the room if you're doing anything sensitive.