'Avoid using free, public Wi-Fi for banking'

schumi

schumi

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Pretoria - "Avoid using free and public Wi-Fi for banking transactions, updating and installing applications on your phones or any electronic devices that you are using". This was a warning by CSIR senior cyber security specialist, Muyowa Mutemwa.

He said this during a media briefing on cyber crime and social media threats in the country at the CSIR today.

Mutemwa said while using free WiFi, someone might intentionally manipulate the operating system and it could be altered to form things that they want to do.
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More at : https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/watch-avoid-using-free-public-wi-fi-for-banking-15423754
 
Muyowa Mutemwa offered no reccomendation on available VPN options to assist users of free wi-fi services to secure their connectivity, or explain how TLS encryption on banking apps help encrypt traffic over unencrypted wifi, as it would detract too significantly from his open-ended-fear-mongering message.
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I suspect you are more at risk of getting your device stolen or snatched whilst using public wifi than being at risk of your banking packets being intercepted. In this country, at least.
 
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> banking that allows Free Wifi
Wait, is that even possible? FNB completely shuts the app when I connect any public wifi
 
mercurial said:
People would not use public wifi if they could afford mobile data.
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And yet not a single party mentioned in the article has the slightest influence on mobile data prices...

And beyond that saving the R5 of data you would use, online banking uses barely anything, while opening yourself up to the potential risks isn't exactly a value proposition.
 
LCBXX said:
I suspect you are more at risk of getting your device stolen or snatched whilst using public wifi than being at risk of your banking packets being intercepted. In this country, at least.
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^ that

but ne'er-do-wells use packet sniffers to sniff packets etc, and this way they'll pwn you, nevermind any undisclosed vulnerabilities which may give them access to your device.

So I'll rather use either wifi at home/work or 3G, and not any pubic hotspots.

I tend to avoid any pubic hotspots because you never know what's waiting for you there anyway.


edit : deliberate misspelling because it's like STD's.
 
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Yeah!
Until they lower data prices I will put all my money at risk as a matter of principle!
 
Even so your banking product should be secure enough that Public Wifi or any wifi shouldn't matter.

If that isn't the case well then you better not use any internet based banking at all. Mobile data is as public as is any other means of internet if you want to get down to the nitty gritty.
 
1. Just switch to FNB and get free online and mobile banking on almost all South African Mobile Networks.
2. "Make mobile data cheaper then I will". Can we sit down an analyze that statement word by word :crylaugh:
 
The_Librarian said:
^ that

but ne'er-do-wells use packet sniffers to sniff packets etc, and this way they'll pwn you, nevermind any undisclosed vulnerabilities which may give them access to your device.

So I'll rather use either wifi at home/work or 3G, and not any pubic hotspots.

I tend to avoid any pubic hotspots because you never know what's waiting for you there anyway.


edit : deliberate misspelling because it's like STD's.
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The same fscking rethoric spewed by our local INFOSEC "experts" without offering locallay-flavcoured suggestions or reccomendations what we should do, or compensating measures to take, irks me to no end. Mobile data is expensive, and expires, so free and open Wifi is a massive draw card. Just enrich your message by suggesting people use Opera/Samung MAX for VPN (or Hotspot Shield Free) and coaching them on HOW to check that the site they are visiting is secure, and not just trysting the lock/green security bar on their browsers.
 
LCBXX said:
The same fscking rethoric spewed by our local INFOSEC "experts" without offering locallay-flavcoured suggestions or reccomendations what we should do, or compensating measures to take, irks me to no end. Mobile data is expensive, and expires, so free and open Wifi is a massive draw card. Just enrich your message by suggesting people use Opera/Samung MAX for VPN (or Hotspot Shield Free) and coaching them on HOW to check that the site they are visiting is secure, and not just trysting the lock/green security bar on their browsers.
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Well said.

On a PC it is easy to check for the legitimacy of a banking site, but on mobile how do you know that the app you're using goes to the real bank's site and not to a decoy website?
 
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