A recent survey found the bulk of U.S. consumers often participate in high-risk public Wifi behaviour because they’re oblivious of the dangers and do not realize how to use a virtual private network (VPN).

The report said most of the respondents participated in these and other activities that were dangerous because there’s a substantial lack of comprehension about the finest means to shield private information when using public Wifi.

Based on the report, 24 percent of U.S. consumers said they did not understand the best method to shield their advice when using public Wifi, while 18 percent understood that using sites with HTTPS and that have green bar at the top of the browser is the best means to shield their info.

Just 26 percent of the respondents answered that using their own private network including a VPN is the finest means to shield info.

While using a VPN is the greatest method to get info on a public Wifi network, too little knowledge about the best way to use these systems is a core cause for the behaviour that was high-risk, researchers said in the report.

“An open Wifi network is any network that will not demand you to have a passphrase or a certification before connecting,” Tripwire Computer Security Researcher Craig Young told SCMagazine.com via e-mailed opinions. “This contains services that permit you to connect and then open a browser to login.”

Young said that although many individuals recognize that information can be intercepted the wireless service operator or by a nearby attacker, they probably don’t recognize connecting to these networks leaves their apparatus open to attackers in less obvious ways.

He said an attacker can glean advice from casualties and even falsify data within connections.

The best practice would be to totally prevent open wireless networks, but if they may be occasionally desired, it’s a good idea to use a VPN client after joining after disconnecting the apparatus WOn’t automatically reconnect to that network and to promptly delete the connection profile,” Young said.