Bitcoin Forum

This is a hypothetical question. I am wondering, can my desktop wallet be hacked if I log into an unsecured WiFi hotspot even if I do not log into my bitcoin desktop wallet? I am wondering because I travel a lot, and when travelling I sometimes log into coffee shop WiFi hotspots. I don't keep a lot of funds on the desktop but I'm wondering about this.

Just keep all your passwords safe and do not expose them when you are connected. Hackers can steal your information through sites you have visited, which they can then take the site's cookies and possibly get your passwords and other information.  :-\

Make sure you disable any form of sharing of files through your internet. Use a VPN to encrypt your data, and try not to access sites that are important to you, e.g. Online wallets, bank accounts.

I would not connect to an unsecured WiFi if there is something important on your laptop if I were you, but if you really have to, take the above precautions. Stay safe! To answer your question, I am not sure, but it is possible as you may leak your desktop wallet passwords or private keys accidentally.

Wifi as technology is compromised nowadays anyway, even if public wifi is of course more unsecure. So I see no additional risk if you never use your wallet in public wifi and take care that there is no malware in your computer.

keep away your precious coins from hackers bro. if i were you just avoid connecting into public unsecured wifi, i bet you can afford to pay mobile wifi or internet better pay less for net connection than lose your hard earned cryptos

It is possible for hacker to hack your computer by injecting some virus in your laptop through WiFi. It is better to use a hardware wallet if you are connecting to unsecure WiFi often.

Edit: Typo, it should be computer instead of hardware wallet

Not likely.  The main risk for your wallet is downloading a malicious software package, and you can do that with HTTPS over VPN and secure Wifi just as easily as without those things. Use sites that are trustworthy, have AV on, dont accept anything to run, dont open unrecognised email, that should cover 99% of threats.

Secure wifi really only protects you from someone locally sniffing the traffic and grabbing your web traffic and details.  Man-in-the-middle risk is increased, but the real threat is from an actor capturing online login details and hacking those accounts, though HTTPS should protect that anyway.

Yes MR. OP you have to keep your all you Informations From any Wifi connection, As Far as I know Hackers can dive In to your computers as long as you are connected to their wifi or connection, A better way to be safe and to be always connected to the Internet is simply Buying A Pocket Wifi it's so portable and you are the Only person connected.

In cafes, schools and public places, we recommend you not to enter Wi-fi, you have to enter internet, you can use mobile Internet, you can use VPN.

Buy a couple spare laptops for public use. Since the bitcoin price has gone up its worth upgrading your secuirty.  I have thought the same before though OP, i got told it is possible to hack via wifi but very hard and unlikely.

Just make some safety measures before any transaction like do not use your main wallet or create a second address that hols your funds for traveling or bring your own wifi hotspot or pocket WiFi in case  you are not comfortable with their networks. Some dashboard of wifi are collecting your data transaction from their network im not sure if bitcoin transaction can tracked.

Wow, the amount of people who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about is astonishing.

Public WiFi (and arguably all WiFi) is vulnerable to MITM attacks. This means that very skilled individuals could potentially sniff internet packets & redirect you to phishing websites.
However you are absolutely safe when accessing HTTPS websites. And it has nothing to do with you accessing an offline, desktop wallet.

I Think hackers can trace your allocated transaction for any information you have connected with, and even if you are in a secure WIFI connection like in the office they can sure do something about it but I think this will be applicable only on web wallets and if OP had a cold storage wallet I think his bitcoin will be secure from hackers because it is not connected in the internet, and my suggestion will be put a small amount of bitcoin in Web wallets and keep your big funds on the cold storage or offline wallet to be sure that your bitcoin will be safe.

You can use a VPN to encrypt your data. You can also do it on your home network because WPA2 can be cracked using KRACK attack.

https://www.krackattacks.com/

My only advise to you is do not use your wallet or login to your exchanges using public hotspot or wifi

This is because anybody can intercept your activity. (Using Wireshark or backtrack etc..)

For security just use your mobile data or the internet at your house.

For more security use VPN

Edited my post, I meant to say it is possible for hacker to hack your computer....
Cheer

AFAIK they can't access your computer directly but it’s easier for them to gain access (most often by forcing a download of some virus).
If you download files when connected, these can be forged in something knows as a ‘Man in the Middle’ attach which would allow the hacker to gain access to your files, passwords and sensitive data through the masked installation of various viruses.

Yes logging into any unsecure wifi means they can see what you are inputting and is one of the main reasons social accounts get hacked do not open your wallet on a unsecure connection.

Your computer must first have a password, a data-stealing program and a firewall must be turned on. Then it is a program to detect viruses as well as spy. On the trading platform, be sure to enter the password when signing in, not on the cookie, and enable password level 2. If the same as me, the backup code is stored on another device not connected. network. ;D ;D ;D

The safest way to save the coin on the ledger wallet.
If you save Private key, Phase should use external memory, so hackers can hardly reach your data.

Hackers can stole very easy through unsecured wifi and that is what they are looking for. Be aware of places where you use wifi and use a vpn or something that can secure your connection with internet.

You can use your own wifi stick or a special stick that can secure your connection.Dont expose your bitcoins value to people because if you have a lot of funds you would be an important target for hackers.

I think as long you dont log in, and also keep your keys and passwords somewhere else you'll be safe.

I really don't know how possible this is and thank you for bringing it to everyone who are guilty of being lackadaisical with connecting to the internet by wanting to take advantage of "free or cheap internet" not knowing you are endangering that your favorite coin that is on your system.

Even as simple as it is, there is a notification of the forum for someone who used an IP that has been used before on the forum and therefore blacklisted to pay certain amount in other to get it white listed and this is mostly due to the use of shared internet over the WiFi. I think we only need to be more careful.

This may be called one of the main factors because if you often use wifi hotspot can be detected by hackers because if we are not careful in storing your own wallet with as good as possible must arises The risk to be received is the loss of money. Better after you do not use bitcoin again should be removed immediately in order to anticipate a bad thing later.

Yes, it can. Secure your desktop's settings and use a VPN if you're are using public WiFi. It's hard to restrict entry but even if you do also make sure that your VPN uses a secure and password protected DNS that will allow you to browse the web and use other web applications uninterrupted from Man in the Middle attacks.

It always depends on the user itself as even if you are on unfamilliar internet access all the phishing sites and .exe files they are asking for you to download will always depend on the user's action. If you are familiar to these kinds of malware and keylogger viruses then you know that it can be prevented by your action. From downloading anti-keyloggers, malware cleaners to you discovering phishing sites to real ones all can be prevented by you. Of course having more protection for your wallets is needed in order for their infiltration to be blocked.

I know almost all major operating systems have updated their patches for this vulnerability, you can look for this information on the home page of the operating system you use.

Your wallet should be safe. If the network has been compromised, the hacker would, for the most part, only have access to the data you're sending to the router. If your traffic is encrypted with SSL, https, you should be safe for the most part. Even without those, if you're not sending your private key anywhere, you won't be hacked.

It's still bad practice as a hacker may find other ways to steal your data though. To be on the safe side, just try to avoid public hotspots, or get yourself a VPN.

I think unsecured WiFi cannot affect your log to your wallet as long as you are the only one can access to your wallet. Then make it sure that your wallet is secure and no one can access to it. By now hackers are rampant and they waiting for a good timing to hack somebody. Logging in unsecured WiFi in public place is good to used and again it cannot affect to your login on your wallet. Now many public place are offering free WiFi for the incontinent of people.

Using of public WiFi is certainly a risk and it should be avoided when we use any service which can expose our user data.Public WiFi is very often exposed to Evil Twin attack in which hacker clone original access point and users then are connected on that AP instead of the original.Hacker then can see all user traffic and perform attack.I think that in any case the risk should be avoided,and never keep your seed/private keys on PC no matter how you connect to the internet.

It won't affect your wallet if your wallet is offline wallet or paper wallet, what if your wallet is online? The hacker can easily get your password from your cookies or another method. Just don't connect to open wifi with your device who have wallet or password (just to be safe)

It's hard to imput your personal data including social media account, and mostly Cryptocurrency wallets Put a 2Fa on all of your wallet includin your emal and other stuff . We can't counter hackers when it comes to using public wifi networks. stay safe.

Basically your laptop (private keys, passwords) are safe. But with a man-in-the-middle attack and a few (browser-)exploits
there is a real (theoretical) threat to your coins. At least as long your private keys (or passwords) are stored unencrypted.
I personally would not store big amounts on a pc which will access open wifis a lot. If you do, make sure your keys/wallets
are encrypted with a strong password. It has to be (almost) impossible for an attacker to crack it. Because i would not consider
such a laptop as (completely) safe. In this case i would definetly recommend to use a hardware wallet.

Theoretically, all requests are encrypted now, of course hackers can intercept them, but at least they will have to decipher one, which is not always a possibly

I think it's very dangerous, Because usually the wifi in the stall is infected with a virus,And it can spread to your laptop or mobile phone,That's where hackers start acting, through viruses that are distributed via wifi.

Never use a public hotspot to transfer anything sensitive,it is easy for them capture your packets and decrypt it pretty easily ,always use encryption or tunneling before sending sensitive data over the internet to safe guard your private information while using public services.

What do you mean with encrypted requests? In this scenario there is no request at all. So nothing can be intercepted.


A wifi can't distribute a virus. Hosts within a wifi network can distribute malware. But a public wifi itself (i guess you mean a router ??? ) does not distribute malware.


Again.. no data is transfered. OP is talking about a wallet stored on the laptop, but not being accessed while on wifi.
And an attacker could not "decrypt it pretty easily". How should someone decrypt something easily with it still being called encryption?
Do you really think encrypted wifi traffic can be decrypted easily ???
If its easy to decrypt traffic.. a tunnel is senseless as f***. A tunnel is made to send traffic encrypted in unsecured wifis.

Pls guys. First read into a topic and don't paste so much senseless contradictory posts.

I think if you do not install malware or visit malicious sites, then the loss of money is unlikely. Because no one will know your password if you do not provide them

It is unlikely for someone to simply sit in a wifi area waiting for someone with bitcoins to show up and go through the effort of hacking into the computer to grab them. Most likely scenario is that a keylogger or specialised malware will be installed on your machine via other means and you'll get hacked that way.

When you are trading in such a valuable currency they why to take risk by using unsecured internet connection.
I think internet connections are quiet cheap now days.
Unsecured or public wifi connections are targets of hackers.
If possible try to use wired broadband connection.
Change your wifi connections password from time to time.
Use and update your antivirus and firewall from time to time.
While using wallet do not click on unknown or suspicious links.
You have to take care of your own precious money.

it is possible and better not to trust unverified networks (different free networks). it is better to take some precautions than to lose all your money, so here it is necessary to be paranoid

If you are unsure with the public WiFi where you connect, much better not to connect in it or use VPN to be secure. There are lots of hackers nowadays and sometimes, they are copying the name of the Public WiFi and using their own WiFi with Key Logger to hack accounts of people who connected to them. Be extra careful and vigilant. Bitcoin price is very high.

Wifi is the weakest as far as security technologies if that is what you are asking. They can literally sit next to your house and hack you. This includes if you make your connection invisible, assign mac addresses and passwords.

If you are using unsecred WiFi then yes they can hack your PC through man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) which can change your DNS and redirect you to malicious sites to get your credentials. They can also install malware or spyware to your computer. These way your computer can be hacked and you might loose your bitcoins too so avoid using public Wifi networks.

I will say, what ever device you are using to connect to an unsecured Wi-Fi to access the internet should not be the same device that you store your precious coins, just to avoid stories that affects the heart.

I think the WIFI in coffee shops and restaurants is unsafe, and I prefer to use the traffic packages provided by telecom operators.There are so many fraud cases. I have bitcoin wallet on my mobile phone. I dare not use public WIFI. I suggest you don't use it either.

Unlikely, but still possible. If the place is somewhere where you can use bitcoins or, I'd say, in the airport where more people are out from their own mobile data area, it could be profitable for someone who knows what he's doing just sit and wait. Maybe drink a good coffee while waiting.

If you know a little bit of network security there is a term "Sniffing" which generally refers to the hackers who steal your information from network by sniffing. It is possible if you use wallet and information while connecting with the unsecured public WIFI.

First and foremost read the fucking topic before being a smart ass yourself,he is asking a hypothetical question since he is travelling a lot whether it is safe to use those public hotspots,do you have any idea how the packets are sent and how easy it is to capture each and every packets if its not decrypted .The Mac address is visible and it is not that hard to sniff into your system and copy your contents.

If you are not logging into your wallet when connecting to an unsecured hotspot then there is nothing to worry,but public hotspots are not secure and make sure you are not visiting any sites that requires you to log in,because they anyone could do a MitM attack and collect the data,it all depends upon how secure the router is configured.

If wifi is compromised they can intercept clear passwords if wifi it is not crypted, so on the worst case they would get your password when you type it to decrypt your wallet but they will not get your wallet. So your wallet can not be hacked.

I guess you should keep the biggest amount on a cold wallet and just keep in that wallet your daily expenses.

Possible but can really be avoided as long you dont download or input any informations either on email or personal log-ins that can be used on accessing any wallet.If you are really scared then use another laptop to be sure or just use hardware or offline wallet for your bitcoins or any other altcoins to be safe from getting compromised. My friend is victimized on public wifi which he carelessly input any important informations and he was being hacked because of his card details and other related informations.

just make sure you have you password safe and saved! you will not be hack by doing that just still be carefull !

Depends on what you are doing. If you connect to WiFi and do nothing for example there is no way for you to get hacked. Most common type of attack on public WiFi is Man In The Middle Attack where hacked would try to redirect you from lets say google.com to his website and force you to download malware. After that your PC would get compromised.

Not sure if you have the capability, but it is my understanding that using your personal wifi on your cell phone is much more safe than using the public router.

Can anyone confirm if this is truly the case? And is your phone internet connection more or less vulnerable to attack?

There have been many reports or posts by people on this forum about losing their bitcoins after they used a public wifi on travel. So it is recommended that you keep you wallet on a private device and even when you have to use a public network, use it on another device.

hackers need to connect to core to make something in your device so if you not give them access to core they can’t use your pc also must know they can track your connection and may be see and record new passwords

Just VPN your ass and instead of using public WiFi, which could bring on masses of uncharted unpleasantness, get a mifi hotspot instead. Public WiFi is almost always borderline unusable anyway.

Considering how sophisticated hackers can be I can't believe anyone would risk anything when there are good and cheap alternatives.

use vpn and hide all info and its better do not join any unsecured wifi .use your private connection :)

If you do that you are going to expose yourself to huge risks, even if you do not access any sensible data there is a chance a hacker infects your computer and from that point on the only thing you need to do is to access your wallet and then the hacker is going to have everything he needs to steal your bitcoin.

its up to you how you set up your wifi connection i think the solution is do not give your wifi password in everyone keep it safe
dont show every where

You also have to be careful about having files copied off of your hard drive if you are hosting said unsecured network. if you are behind a firewall or if your data is encrypted, ou will most likely be fine. but the average persons online security and knowledge thereof is woefully lax; I have actually encountered modems with the default admin/password credential pair at gamestops, certain libraries, and mom and pop restaurants that dont know any better.


and dude, never connect to airport wifi. its like having sex with everyone else that connected to the airport wifi  :D

I've been running a full node over public WiFi since I joined Bitcoin Talk, and I've never had any problems.

I'm using Windows 10 for various reasons, and I hate it. I ran an alternative node under Ubuntu as well, and I've never had problems with either.
You will have some difficulties. Your node can only accept outbound connections, most public sites don't allow inbound connections. You will also find that some locations will not allow you to use port 8333 - supermarkets and libraries for example. When synchronising your node, make sure you minimise the display so that it is not on public display. The netbook I use for the Ubuntu node uses an external SSD, and I should probably move my wallet onto that as well. When you go to the loo, don't leave core running.

Some other points - don't try to download the blockchain, it will take you a couple of weeks. Try to synchronise the blockchain every day, that is usually fairly fast. WiFi can be fairly spotty at some locations, but core seems to be fairly resiliant and recovers if you shut it down and restart.

When you are using an unsecured WiFi, you open yourself up to being hacked and that's not really a wise thing to do. One must make sure that they are using the highest security when connected through the WiFi and using a VPN also helps with security when connected to an unsecured wifi.

No, they shouldn't be able to access your data unless your computer is configured so. If you travel a lot I recommend you to buy a VPN. It will increase your security when you are connected to public WiFi network. Try to think about buying a hardware wallet. Ledger Nano S is quite small so it could fit in your pocket. Less risk that someone will steal your crypto.

I do not think that your wallet will be compromised at a cafe or hotel wifi and I do not think that the hacker would know about Bitcoinc unless he is waiting for that. Just do not connect to unknown (private) Wi - fi hotspots and you will be alright.

In theory, if your wallet is not reliable, then attackers can steal your secret keys and passwords. So better do not risk and do not use questionable Wi-Fi.

Right! your point a view is correct. Hackers can steal your bitcoin if you save your private keys in your PC. So never do that, and avoid to open your wallet using Unsecured WiFi. Hardware wallets is a good option to secure your coins.

The general rule of thumb - if you don't need your BTC to available for you all the time there is no need to expose your coins to a threat like this.
The more potential problems you can encounter the higher probability that something will go wrong. Why risk it?
The better option would be to store some small part of your BTC on your mobile device and keep rest of it safely stored at home.

Yes it is safe to use own wifi but if a person is having a problem in his internet and go for a public wifi then not a big deal, just be sure to keep your wallet offline, be keen about investment and don't let anyone to access your account.

Firstly it is not easy to hack bitcoin account but precautions are better than cure so be safe and be sure about your wallet

Do not you know that you must not (!) use any unsafe Wi-Fi connection, especially when you deal with cryptocurrency?  You can be easily hacked and the keys can be stolen without any effort of hackers! Check your computer with Antivirus program now - do it urgently.

And always use VPN!

Having the wallet is the different thing as the bitcoin price and the value increasing all the time people use to buy the bitcoin and then holding for the long time I hope it will increase the value and the price of the bitcoin more and more.

There are a lot of the wallet in the market now and all the people are holding the bitcoin in the wallet to secure the value and he profit of the money I hope this will make the bitcoin more valuable.

If you care at all about security then you need to avoid to use wifi in your computer, wifi is very insecure you are never going to be able to secure your network enough to feel safe, so just use a wire and forget about all the security issues that come from using a wifi connection.

Unsecured Wi-Fi is one of the biggest problems when it comes to the transaction of payment using the digital currencies. According to the national report of KSN there are 24.7 percent of the Wi.Fi connections that have on setup for the encryption at all.

This means that they could be easily accessed by the use of an antenna scale .so one should be careful about the network type and its security because the Btc payment method is more vulnerable to hackers.

Do you know who is providing this service.... How much information goes through their proxies and what data is filtered and

logged? Why go through all that trouble and risk for a little bit of free data? I never use public WiFi for anything other than

doing updates or browsing the Net. {not secure sites} Yes, some might say https sites are not vulnerable, but I am not going

to take chances with things I cannot control. {I can access my equipment and none of my personal information is logged by

any middle man}  ;D

How many of you guys leave Cortana in your Windows systems. Cortana is Microsofts keyboard logger and data harvesting program. How about Bluetoothe - do you leave that enabled, and the near field connections. I send back any contactless credit or debit cards, but most people seem to be content to use them.

Packt Publishing have an ebook on Using Lali Linux for WiFi penetration testing. It's probably worth setting up an old netbook to explore this topic if you are really worried.

You can connect you device to other WiFi, but always be sensitive when you all connected to internet avoid pop-up links. Always be sure of the link you click especially from your email and make sure you know the spelling of the website you want to visit when you are typing on your url.

You have to be proactive in security. No organization will be responsible for your actions regarding bitcoin. So you have to help yourself. Be careful with anything online

Well, honestly, i really do not think that getting into public wifi hotspots can really get your desktop wallets hacked. Well, that is, if you open them when you are connected to a public wifi hotspot. But even so, i suggest, that you just put your funds on a different device. A device that you don't use that often to connect to the internet. That way, you can breath a little lighter. But you can also buy cheap pocket wifis that only you can use. That would be much easier.

Don't use a wifi without a security, you must fix first  your security matter to you to have a safe transaction with bitcoin. So be careful to your account and in any sites that you visit.Turn off also your firewall.

as long as you can save your private keys and not giving the password to other people, you can feel safe. i think you can use another wallet if you want to protect your bitcoin and you can buy hardware wallet too that will give you more secure. i don't think that someone which have more than 3 btc will saving his bitcoin into desktop or android wallet because today the bitcoin price is not cheap. if you are connect with unsecured wifi hotspot then you might be need to activate your antivirus so if there is any intruder that want to hack your computer, the antivirus can give protection to you computer.

just dont open your important details on public wifi.and make sure that all your accounts dont have the same password so if one is hacked the others will keep safe.i also open sometimes on public wifi but i only open some google sites but but not those important account specially my wallet.i only open it when i was in a very secured places like home.

I guess the answer is hell noo, its far too risky. I think only people who are tech savvy can take such risks. Even though even for them it might not be worth it. Fortunately I don't store a whole lot of coins on my desktop. They are just not safe. Its better to invest in a hardware wallet.

It can be hacked i heard a story here on this forum who lost a lot of coins just because he entered in a unsecure wifi when he was on holiday with his phone. So i think that it would be possible that you could be hacked if you have no good firewall on it with a few virus scanners.

It surely can, we find a lot of wifi networks in many mall, stalls, restaurant, etc.
When you are connected to a network, the most important thing is whether it is safe or not? how to know it is obviously very difficult, so it takes self-protection.
To create self-protection will needed some installed programs such as antivirus, antikeylogger, trojan killer, etc.
But sometimes it's not enough, because I've also worked in a network system, where as netsys admin we are entering into someone's computer with remote computer access and copy important data from the computer, it could be important files such as your bitcoins backup wallet.

as i see it it isnt possible )
otherwise many people would already be affected

After going through this thread, I don't even connect to public wi fi anymore. I just tether from my cell phone. I was out this morning and was logged into some sensitive accounts, trading platform, etc... I have more trust in using my cellular with a VPN of course.

It is never safe to use a public wifi as the person controlling the public wifi will have access to what ever you are using through their network and it is easy for them to get you user name and password and your system will get hacked by the one controlling the public wifi as most of the public wifi's are never safeto use for any kind of personal information or transactions especially when you are using btc it is always best to use your own network so that you don't end up loosing your btc.

I am a computer engineering major student and we are creating this kind of app and system for restaurant and hotels for their wifi hotspot this app allows to store history log of the users who are connected to their router. Yes you are vulnerable to hacking if you are connected to unsecured wifi hotspot.  you can bring your own pocket wifi for safety and to secure your wallet.

The possible scenario which your bitcoin wallet maybe hacked when connecting in public wifi is that if you are connected and youre system has penetrated by a malware and this malware scans youre saved files or documents it automatically sends the information into the hackers email add my advise is store your private keys in a separate flashdrive instead of saving it on your laptops harddrive.

There is a high chance that your wallet being hacked if you log in into a public unsecured wifi. Hackers can easily inject some virus or malware to your pc or laptop to steal some of your info. Bring your own source of wifi like pocket wifi or tether hotspot into your phone. Be careful as always even if it is only a small amount of btc

As far as I know when you are connected to wi-fi you are basically part of its network whatever device you use. When you are part of the network people who are knowledgeable can easily go and see your device.  So just to be safe avoid connecting to a public and unsecured wi-fi.

I'm pretty sure everything is not safe specially an unsecured wifi hotspot. The UNSECURED would've gave it away of how safe those things are. Just don't do it, man. If you really do value your life's work, you wouldn't risk placing your coins in danger by connecting to an UNSECURED wifi hotspot. Play it safe and keep on using your own WiFi.

Absolutely yes! Let's say the WIFI that you logged on is not the legitimate network itself, let's say that it is a fake WIFI that is set by the hackers, once you logged on this fake WIFI there's really a big chance that all of your information will be stolen. Malware will be sent straight directly to your device and voila, you've been hacked without you even knowing it.

Yes. Unsecured WIFI posed a threat to our wallet security so never ever try to do open your wallet using a public unsecured WIFI. If you would remember there was one wallet who has latter found out that is transmitting plain text over the internet. And its very vulnerable. Imaging using a unsecured WIFI which everyone can see your transaction in plain text!!!
There are many attack vectors that a hacker can exploit. And we all know that hackers are really targeting crypto because of the money involved. They are getting desperate and bolder on their attack. So don't give them a chance. So I advise not to used WIFI that is public and unsecured.

I won't recommend using public wifi even if you don't have (less or) any funds in your Bitcoin wallet because you never know anyone can pull the data from your device and misuse it. However, If I am not wrong then I think there is some kind of encryption feature available in hardware wallets like Trezor where private keys are never exposed even while making the transaction so if you are concerned about the security of your funds then it is a better option to throw some amount for smart devices.

 It is always unsafe to use wifi at public places. It is quiet easy for an hacker to hack your mobile or laptop if you are using wifi at public places. Firstly do not use open wifi network for making any online payment. Do not click on cookies or unauthorised/unknown link. Always keep your password protected. Use updated antivirus and firewall. Keep your wifi connection password protected. For more safety use your mobile data or your home internet connection.

Yes according to my personal experiance it can be dangerous and your wallet can be hacked due to insecure wifi.

Connecting to unsecured public hotspot is so risky there is a lot of system that can apply to router and record all your activity including your bitcoin transaction. Best way to do is bring your own pocket wifi or use your mobile internet if you are making transaction with your wallet.

I think it is perfectly safe to use public WiFi. In fact it may be safer than using your WiFi at home. At least the public providers check for known malware installers on sites that you visit. Have a look at some of the hippy sites, if you want to know how to hack into domestic Wifi. Cable connections are also a risk. All the traffic on your bit of the cable network passes through your router, you can harvest the lot if you are so minded. You are more at risk if you use Windows without removing Cortana and other keylogging software. An on-line wallet is yet another major risk in my opiniom.

I believe that the biggest risk you will find in running a full node over public Wifi is that it won't allow you to open the Bitcoin port, or to accept inbound connections. After all, people post their Bitcoin addresses all over the net, and they don't have any problems from this public display.

The other advantage of using public WiFi is that you get all sorts of offers of free coffee and free meals, and reduced price fuel amongst other things.

True, this is why many people never realize why they lose their coins, they do not realize the high risk actions they take everyday, if you care about maintaining your coins in your possession you need to be extremely cautious about where you connect your computer and where you login into your accounts.

Yes, that can happen: Sometimes hackers get access to users’ devices through public wi-fi.
This is what happened with someone in Starbucks in Buenos Aires, if you follow news. Hackers target public places in order to infect many individual devices at once with mining software.
Actually, attempts to hijack public wi-fi are bound to increse in the near future. For hackers, this makes more sense, given that attacking a single personal device isn’t worth it. Using one laptop you can mine about $0,02=0,05 worth of cryptocurrency in one day. But if you mine cryptocurrency off 100–150 devices, that will give you $2–8. So, if you infect a few hundred routers with the mining malware, that could potentially bring you substantial returns.

Instead of using public network I make a mobile hotspot network from my iphone. It's much more secure and is available anywhere where is your carrier's coverage.

yes wifi is very unsafe, because if you are around hackers all the data that is in your pc surely sold in the grab the hackers.
so do not use wifi use your own personal data, little capital for your own security.

In the hypothetical scenario also I wouldn't open up my laptop in the public wifi. It is the easiest black hole where your security can be compromised easily. The people are full of IT knowledge now a days and even a kid knows how to hack normal windows password. With the increase in the prices of the bitcoin and other crypto currency it is sure that people are just waiting you to connect with the public wifi and wait for your computer to get hacked. To many smart people around bro so do not take the risk of doing that. Always carry personal hot spot with you so that it would be easier for you to connect with your desktop wallet. When it comes to money, there should not be risking of it too.

yes that's when we use public wifi, because public wifi is used by anyone, sometimes people who have a specific purpose can also use public wifi.
then we in using public wifi must also be careful that the data we have it will be safe from anyone who intends evil.

That is very important because after bitcoin's crazy rally, hackers became more. You should use some encryption tools even if you have to use public wifi.

there is a possibility that could happen because, as far as I know there is a hacking method by making wifi clone so that people who enter the cloned network can read the flow of data by the network maker. and that's where your important data can be stolen including your password

All this doom and gloom about public WiFi makes me laugh. If you use Windows with Cortana, you have a much greater risk of having your data recorded.
Do you use a contactless credit card?  - people can steal your money while they stand next to you in a queue if you do. Got bluetooth or WiFi on your mobile, then thaty's another way in, and how about near field communications. If you run a core node, and you manage your wallet(s) sensibly, then there is no way that you are more at risk on public WiFi, unless you use cloud services of course.

Maybe we should produce a guide for business people on the move.

It's a very tough and difficult question.now WiFi are popular in public place also it's compromise anywhere.so it's depend on user what kind of wallet using.]