Using your hotel's WiFi
Lucky you! You’re at a hotel here in beautiful Hawaii Nei, hopefully for some exciting reason like a wedding or a vacation, but even if you’re stuck off-island at a conference in Cincinnati, we’ve got you covered.
First things first: HOTEL WIFI CONNECTIONS ARE INHERENT SECURITY RISKS.
That is not, of course, if you have a trustworthy hotel business center with an attendant who can verify they change passwords regularly and monitor activity, maintain a firewall, and other best practices, including offering Ethernet cables for hardwired connections.
Yes, but… you need internet so you don’t use up all your roaming minutes, data caps, or just need faster speeds than the cellular connection provides.
Ok, then. Let’s agree that while all open WiFi (and this goes for green mermaid coffee shops, airports, and other public places including shopping malls) are not safe to conduct banking, check any website requiring a password to login, or other portal where you expect to maintain privacy of information, hotel and other secured WiFi can be used relatively safely if you know what their limitations are. Either way, public WiFi is different from your normal private networks, and it can be the exact weak spot for what are known as Man-in-the-Middle attacks.
Luckily, Apple’s ecosystem is exceptionally secure and it’s rare that anything Apple-native gets breached. So, what are the tiers of safety then for traveling and using an unusual internet connection?
Safest - Hotel-provided hard-wired internet connection (Ethernet cable) with password login. Usually this only applies to MacBooks and other macOS devices, but there are ways to hardwire an iPad to the internet. Pacifitec support can help with this before and even during your trip - remotely if you’re off-island, too. Hardwired connections are generally faster than public WiFi.
Pretty Secure - Hotel (similar to mall, mobile service, and third-party business) password-protected WiFi access, established using the normal iOS WiFi or macOS WiFi menu. Often the front desk, business center, or concierge will be able to provided you with login instructions. Most frequently, these connections are courtesies and do not offer the same speeds as your regular home or work connections. They are not for downloading movies or music, but rather basic communications like mail, messages, and maps. If your home internet provider has public WiFi, you may be able to establish a personal profile with roaming that treats your connection securely; the problem often with these is their speeds are so slow as to be almost unusable. Plus it’s best to set them up before you need them. Sometimes they will overlap with your hotel’s network, and may even provide a better connection than your hotel. If you want to add an extra layer of security to your travel and using public WiFi, consider adding Apple’s Private Relay VPN-style service to your workflow.
Risky - Hotel, mall, public hotspot (coffeshop, supermarket, airport, etc.), without password. Use only in case of no other options and limit use to basic functions like quick internet searches for directions, downloading email, or checking messages.
Don’t even think about it - A WiFi resource that is not able to be identified as professional, monitored, or looks sketchy. For example, don’t piggyback something like “Greg’s iPad” or “Mall Security” that doesn’t have a lock next to it and seems like a way to get free hotspot. Anyone can rename their network and spoof an otherwise trustworthy name, and then copy all your sensitive keystrokes and data. If you want to be double-sure you’re accessing a free, unsecured WiFi network, then be sure to go to the nearest official agent - barista, mall office, or hotel front desk, and confirm the actual network name.
Ultimately, being away from your normal internet connections takes a bit of extra patience, but whether or not you have the ever-improving 5G access (which, when working, provides speeds often above WiFi networks) you can access the internet relatively safely and quickly.
Of course, the safest way to get online is to use your own cellular connection as a hotspot, sign up for additional data plans for your iPads, or get a MiFi hotspot device for dedicated network broadcast and host your own miniature internet wherever you go.