Australian authorities are urging travellers to be careful when signing into public Wi-Fi access networks after a man was arrested for using malicious network access to steal data during a domestic flight.
Airline employees are Suspicious Wi-Fi networks According to Australian police, the incident happened during flight when the plane landed in Perth, where a 42-year-old man from Western Australia was found with a mobile access device, a laptop and a mobile phone in his carry-on luggage.
Police said the man used the devices to set up unauthorized Wi-Fi access points during flights, luring unsuspecting passengers to log in and enter personal information, including email addresses and social media credentials. Investigations have uncovered evidence of similar cybercrime activity at airports including Melbourne and Adelaide, police added.
“You don’t need to enter any personal information, such as logging in with your email or social media account, to connect to a free WiFi network.” According to the statement: Australian AFP cybercrime investigator Andrea Colman advises: “If you want to use public Wi-Fi hotspots, install a trusted virtual private network on your devices to encrypt and protect your data as you use the internet.”
Coleman also recommends disabling Wi-Fi on your mobile devices when in public places to avoid automatically connecting to potentially malicious hotspots.
“When using public networks, disable file sharing, avoid conducting any sensitive operations such as banking while connected, and change the settings on your devices to ‘forget network’ when you’re done,” Coleman added.
Meanwhile, police said the suspect has been charged with nine counts of cybercrime.