Are you using the right WiFi?

Mobile world Congress was an event where any and every person of Telecommunication Industry was there only to make fame but they didn’t know that they will get roasted. In Barcelona, where MWC16 is being held now, many attendees fell down to the experiment held by Avast researchers.

Avast’s researchers set up the networks at the MWC registration booth at Barcelona Airport and found that many attendees took the danger of being hunted on by cyber crooks.

In four hours, Avast saw more than 8 million data packets from more 2000 users. Avast tried to protect the user's privacy though the data was scanned. Nearly 62% of users explored the web doing Google or checked their Gmail accounts while 15% toured Yahoo and 2% used Spotify. 50.1% had an Apple device, 43.4% were using an Android device, and 6.5% were carrying a Windows Phone device.

“Some people aren’t aware that their mobile phones might automatically connect to a WiFi network unless they adjust their settings because they don't realize that surfing across open WiFi is not safe," said Gagan Singh, president of mobile at Avast. In such situations, people should use a VPN setting that keeps your data unidentified while equating to public hotspots to ensure that their link is reliable.”

“With many visitors traveling from abroad to attend Mobile World Congress, it’s not unusual to see that many opt to connect to free WiFi to save money, rather than using data roaming services.

Around 52% of people who connected their devices with fake Wi-Fi accounts in MWC16, were found to have the Facebook app installed while 2.4% had Twitter’s offering on their devices, the Avast researchers showed. Attendees used dating like Tinder and Badoo through the networks, and Avast could see the identity of 63.5% of devices and their users.