WiFi at the coffee shop is so convenient. It’s great when your favorite restaurant has it, too. It’s a great convenience, but using it is not in your best interest for secure communication or anything that involves logging into websites.
Why? You can’t be guaranteed of the security of their WiFi. There’s no way to know what precautions if any, the owners have taken to keep you safe.
Basic password access for public WiFi is fine for checking the news or the weather, but don’t use it for email, online purchases, or work-related access. Without proper security protocols for the connection, you’re at risk of having your information stolen.
If you MUST do work and public WiFi is the only choice, use a virtual private network (VPN) application. A VPN is like call-forwarding for the internet and bypasses the connection through the public WiFi server. This will help keep your information more secure.
For a better look at what a VPN is and how it works, read this article from Chris Hoffman, “What Is a VPN, and Why Would I Need One?” on How-To Geek.