Sending payments over open Wi-Fi

Regrettably, using an open Wi-Fi network to transmit sensitive information is something that which none of us would choose to do is often unavoidable. For example, what do you do if en-route to your flight abroad you are told that your passport also needs to be registered online or there’s a juicy cash game going and you need to deposit enough funds to get in and get busy?

Fortunately, at least in the case of Ladbrokes, multi-encryption technology is employed by the Ladbrokes client to ensure that sensitive information is beyond the reach of internet hackers, but this is sadly not the case for all websites, and this is why it’s imperative that you yourself are aware of things you can do to limit the potential damage caused by these people.

Clearly, the first is to check how strong the website’s encryption is; most large companies, like Ladbrokes, will have the very best. Make sure when entering details, for example, your date of birth or account number to make a payment, that you haven’t checked any boxes that could save the information for someone to find later. If you know that you might frequently have to use open Wi-Fi networks to transmit sensitive information then make sure that you aren’t just using one generic password for several different sites, as then obviously if a hacker gets one he gets them all. An excellent addition to your arsenal if you are going to be using a lot of open Wi-Fi is a VPN. A Virtual Private Network that provides a mini-encryption service for you, whether the network itself is open or not – these can be obtained from individual providers.

Finally, some internet browsers provide plug-ins to encrypt websites that do not have sufficient encryption themselves, so check to see if one of these is available and if so, use it!