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TIL a $35 VPN subscription saved me from a hotel WiFi nightmare
Honestly, I was at a Marriott in Chicago last month and hopped on their free WiFi to check my bank. Next morning, I saw a login attempt from Russia on my account. Kicked myself for not using the VPN I bought for $35 a year. Has anyone else had a close call with public WiFi that made you paranoid?
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nancy8241mo agoTop Commenter
a login attempt from Russia" sounds scary but honestly thats just bots scanning everything. i never use vpns on hotel wifi and ive had zero issues, you probably clicked something dodgy or reused a password. bank logins are encrypted anyway so a vpn is just slowing your connection for no reason.
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viola_butler1mo ago
Respectfully, I see it different. Bank sites might be encrypted but that doesn't help if someone sniffs your session cookie or hits you with a redirect to a fake login page. Hotel wifi is basically public, anyone on the same network can see what sites you're visiting and sometimes even hijack your connection. A VPN is just a little extra layer that makes that a lot harder for them. Also "just bots" is how people get hacked, you brush off one alert and then suddenly your account is drained because you didn't take any precautions at all. How do you figure encryption alone stops someone from stealing your login after you type it?
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