VPNs

Public WiFi hotspots are used by millions on a daily basis in coffee shops, hotels, airports and more. They are convenient and many are free, but there is also risk involved. Using a public network puts your information out there where sophisticated cyber criminals can eavesdrop and grab your passwords, account numbers and any other information that you'd rather keep private. There are even man-in-the-middle attacks where the thief sets up a WiFi hotspot with the same name as the public one and waits for unwitting people to accidentally join it instead of the legitimate one.