Risks of WiFi sharing

Sharing WiFi from our smartphone to other people is very practical but it also has some risks that you should take into account. You may run out of mobile data on your rate, you will have less speed or you will be more exposed during that time.

Data consumption

It is not usual for us to share data with any unknown person and they will normally be trusted. But you must always keep in mind that the data you are offering them is that of your rate. This means that it will depend on the activity you are going to carry out whether it has more or less consumption. If you don't have unlimited data and you share WiFi with someone who is going to watch a movie on Netflix in 4K quality, you may quickly run out of gigabytes. So watch who you share with and what you use them for.

Security

Sharing data implies that our created network is visible to the people around us. Although we will now explain some basic tips to protect yourself and avoid risks, it is impossible for it to be a completely safe practice and we are exposing ourselves to possible hacks or attacks from cybercriminals. There doesn't have to be any problem if you follow some safety guidelines but there will always be some risk.

Less speed

Naturally, we will have lower speed. We are going to share our data with other devices, and this will cause the browsing speed to drop. The more devices that connect to the WiFi network we are sharing, the lower the speed will be. Additionally, if you are going to share WiFi for activities that require a lot of bandwidth, such as having a live video conference, for example, you may have a lot of outages and the application may not work as it should with a more stable connection.

How you should protect yourself

If we want to create a WiFi network and enjoy the many advantages it has, we can do it. But always keep a series of aspects in mind when doing so.

Use a good password

Having a good password is essential so that no one connects to your shared WiFi network without your permission. The advice is the usual ones in these cases and you must use a key that is long and varied enough to be secure. Use upper and lower case letters, use all types of numbers and add punctuation marks or symbols. Also, do not use something very obvious or easy to guess to avoid intruders as much as possible.

Control encryption

Not only is a good password important, the encryption we use is also important. When activating an access point or a WiFi Zone we will see that the phone shows us a series of security settings to choose what type of encryption we want to have on that created network. Always make sure that some type of encryption is selected and that “none” is not marked among the options. It will depend on the mobile phone or the version that one or the other appears but, generally, it will allow us to choose between WPA3 or WPA2 or not choose any.

Don't forget the settings

Beyond choosing a good security password and encryption, it is also interesting that you look at what options our mobile phone allows us to use with respect to the WiFi Zone or the Internet sharing option. For example, it is important that you activate the button in the settings that indicates that this access point will be automatically deactivated when no devices are connected. This will prevent it from working if you accidentally leave it active, thus avoiding possible risks of strangers trying to connect to that network.

Check who is connected to your WiFi network

Once we have activated this WiFi network, the phone will allow us to see what devices are connected. Be careful and do not allow access to anyone you do not know. If you see that someone is trying to access or has already accessed, immediately deactivate the data sharing option or block access to that device.

Link: https://www.adslzone.net/noticias/tecnologia/riesgos-compartir-wifi-tethering/