If you’re attending the Republican National Convention this week, you may want to think twice before opening your laptop and joining that free Wi-Fi network labeled “I vote Trump! free Internet.”
IT company Avast Security set up a number of fake Wi-Fi networks in the convention area on Monday, including the Quicken Loans Arena and at the Cleveland airport, to see just how many people would attempt to join the unsecured networks. By their numbers, 1,200 people connected and nearly 68 percent of users had their information compromised in the experiment. (Avast says its team scanned data, but did not save any private information from anyone who used its networks.)
From there, the company was able to pull some interesting statistics on just what exactly people at the RNC were up to on the internet. A few fast facts: 5 percent of people used the Wi-Fi to play Pokémon Go, while .24 percent used the connection to view porn sites. Which really makes you think twice about what information is being collected about you every time you use the Wi-Fi you thought was provided by your local Starbucks.
