Analyzing Threats in Public Wi-Fi: A Study of Attack Vectors, Vulnerability and User Awareness

In the contemporary digital landscape, cyber threats have emerged as a significant concern and an unavoidable reality. This article investigates the inherent cybersecurity concerns connected with public Wi-Fi networks in the modern digital ecosystem. We look at common hacking tactics, including eaves-dropping, man-in-the-middle attacks, rogue access points, and session hijacking. An in-depth investigation of current security protocols, including Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2), Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3), and Enterprise Authentication, reveals their unique strengths and drawbacks. Our empirical approach involved simulating various attacks, such as brute-force logins, firmware exploitation, and mobile application data leakage (e.g., ES File Explorer), using compromised TP-Link TL-WN722N adapters and Tenda F3 routers exploiting known vulnerabilities (CVE-2020-35391 and CVE-2019-6447). During the simulations, the Nmap tool was used to scan ports and exploit services. This study emphasizes that effective cybersecurity is largely dependent on user knowledge, since both public Wi-Fi and outdated apps provide significant cyber dangers. We seek to close the knowledge gap between attackers and defenders by empowering stakeholders to strengthen defenses against public Wi-Fi risks and instilling cybersecurity awareness in consumers.