The holiday season is here -- and you may be travelling in India or abroad. But  be careful when you surf the Net
May 1 2018: The biggest concern for tourists   on holiday  these days is  WiFi . Will they be able to access the Internet where ever they go?   Many hotel rooms and lobbies, airport departure and arrival halls, coffee shops and restaurants,  offer free WiFi -- sometimes you have to obtain a  password . This may be OK for a quick mail check -- but   many   wonder : Can I do  financial transactions   --  rebook a ticket  say?  Short answer: don't.    Today hackers lurk in such public places with sophisticated tools.
There was a chilling report  from a Dutch magazine recently  reported  by Medium.com,  about a hacker in a cafe with  a small black device, slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, with an antenna on it.  This  was all he needed to hack into every single phone or laptop that was being used in the cafe.
It is sensible to always switch to a VPN or Virtual Private Network  when surfing public WiFi. VPNs make you invisible and act as a secure tunnel for your device. Instead of relaying all of your traffic to an unknown  router on public WiFi, your device connects to a trusted VPN provider. Check if your browser provides the option of switching to VPN. If not--at least for your holiday -- use a browser like Opera Mini which  comes with VPN.  Or install a  VPN tool like Norton WiFi Privacy.
The best solution is to  buy an unlimited data plan for your device and stop using public Wi-Fi altogether. When abroad,  buy a local SIM for your mobile phone, with a good data plan for broadband -- and  do your online commerce in  the privacy of your hotel room,  using your own SIM.