When you’re on a bike tour, you might not realize it, but you’ve got a fair bit of tech on you. That tech makes you more susceptible to cybercriminals, even if you aren’t actively using your phone or payment cards. While on long tours or distant club rides, you may rely on hotel, hostel, or even cafe WiFi to save data and charge up overnight. The open networks common to these locations can put your devices at risk without the proper precautions. Fake hotspots can snatch your login credentials by looking legit. Public networks are a healthy sea, and cybercriminals watch and wait for the right fish.
In this guide, we’ll go over some of the biggest risks and how to spot the most common traps. But that’s not all, we’ll talk about how you can keep yourself safe. You’ll learn a few simple tricks and tools that can make your bike tour much safer and more secure. Before we wrap up, we’re even going to look at how a VPN on Android protects all of your device’s data.
The Most Common WiFi Traps On The Road
- Open hotspots and captive portals. These are networks that anyone can join just by clicking on them. However, some will inject malicious ads or even weak scripts that can execute any number of attacks.
- Evil-twin networks. Evil twins are just what they sound like. They’re networks that look just like a legit network, like your hotel WiFi, but with a stronger signal. This tactic often tricks your phone into connecting to that access point, giving them access to your device.
- Man-in-the-middle snoops. When a network is unencrypted or features weak encryption that someone’s already bypassed, the network traffic can be watched. This exposure means snoopers can read your logins, cookies, ticket numbers, everything, as they traverse the network.
- Session hijacking. When a cybercriminal has a stolen cookie, they can use it to disguise themselves as you. This technique can allow them to access a cloud drive or email account without a password.
- Fake “Free WiFi” pages. Sometimes, after connecting to a malicious portal or access point, a device is given malware in the form of ads. These ads will often look like pages offering free WiFi in areas where there are no other networks detected. Interacting with these pages can lead to more serious malware or ransomware. The number of ransomware victims roughly doubles each year.
Your Bike Tech vs. Online Threats
The good news is, things like wireless shifters, sensors, and other wireless bike tech don’t typically use WiFi or the internet to communicate.
The bigger risk, however, is your smartphone and all of the accounts tied to it. Routes, firmware updates, ride uploads, and travel bookings all pass through the browser or apps. A stolen login lets a thief change your plans, read your email, or lock you out of your device backups.
Secure your phone first. The gadgets will follow.
How a VPN on Android Protects You
A VPN on Android is an essential security tool for anyone who uses WiFi while away from home. No matter what you’re doing, it’s critical to secure your personal data and the data in motion that comes and goes from your devices.
A VPN acts like a secure personal tunnel. When the client app is installed, configured, and run, it creates an encrypted route from that device to the page or service it’s connecting to. This encryption isn’t just a typical password, either; it’s industry-standard, bank-level encryption. This protection keeps your data safe from anyone trying to read or download it.
Even if someone could monitor the traffic, they wouldn’t be able to tell what data was coming and going. It’s all unreadable to anyone other than the user. The best VPN providers also have options like a kill switch. This feature immediately kills the data flow if the secure connection is dropped or breached in any way.
To keep your speed as fast as possible, be sure to pick a VPN node in your general geographic region. If you’re in the Midwest, for example, picking a node on the East or West Coast will give you more lag than optimal. Picking a node in Chicago, Detroit, or Minneapolis, for instance, would give you much better speeds in comparison.
If you’re traveling and need to access a service that’s only available in your home area, a good VPN can help with that as well. When abroad, even out of state, you can access geo-restricted content by simply changing the VPN node you’re connected to.
When you use a VPN on Android, stick to some basic security best practices, as well. Always keep your Android device fully updated and all apps updated and patched. When interacting with websites, stick to sites that implement the HTTPS protocol. Avoid downloads from pop-ups and unsolicited links, and use common sense when interacting with texts with links.
Android VPN Setup Checklist
- Install a trusted VPN by downloading the app from the Google Play Store only. Do not use APKs from unknown sites; they can carry countless forms of malware.
- Open the app and sign in with the credentials you chose during your account creation and registration with the VPN provider.
- Enable the kill switch option to prevent unsecured traffic on all untrusted networks.
- Choose the nearest server for better speed. Save a second nearby server as a backup.
- Turn on split tunneling if your mapping app struggles. Keep maps outside the tunnel while banking, and your email stays protected.
Riding Farther, Browsing Safely
Bike tours lean heavily on public networks, which are prime targets for snoops, scammers, and cybercriminals of all kinds. A VPN on Android, smart settings, and a few habits protect your maps, money, and messages. Verify Wi-Fi names, keep software updated, and back up your phone. Enjoy the ride with peace of mind.
