Editing Wi-Fi hotspot (section)

== Security issues ==
Security is a serious concern in connection with public and private hotspots. There are three possible attack scenarios. First, there is the wireless connection between the client and the access point, which needs to be [[encrypted]], so that the connection cannot be eavesdropped or attacked by a [[man-in-the-middle attack]]. Second, there is the hotspot itself. The WLAN encryption ends at the interface, then travels its network stack unencrypted and then, third, travels over the wired connection up to the [[Broadband remote access server|BRAS]] of the ISP.

Depending upon the setup of a public hotspot, the provider of the hotspot has access to the metadata and content accessed by users of the hotspot. The safest method when accessing the Internet over a hotspot, with unknown security measures, is [[end-to-end encryption]]. Examples of strong end-to-end encryption are [[HTTP Secure|HTTPS]] and [[Secure Shell|SSH]].

Some hotspots [[authenticate]] users; however, this does not prevent users from viewing network traffic using [[packet sniffer]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://planetzuda.com/2013/02/18/internet-security-podcast-episode-10-free-wifi-and-the-security-issues-it-poses/ |title=Internet Security Podcast episode 10: Free WiFi And The Security issues it poses |date=18 February 2013 |access-date=13 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831183436/http://planetzuda.com/2013/02/18/internet-security-podcast-episode-10-free-wifi-and-the-security-issues-it-poses/ |archive-date=31 August 2014 }}</ref>

Some vendors provide a download option that deploys [[WPA-PSK|WPA]] support. This conflicts with enterprise configurations that have solutions specific to their internal [[WLAN]].

The [[Opportunistic Wireless Encryption]] (OWE) standard provides [[encrypted communication]] in open Wi-Fi networks, alongside the [[WPA3]] standard,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hpe.com/us/en/insights/articles/wpa3-how-and-why-the-wi-fi-standard-matters-1808.html|title=WPA3: How and why the Wi-Fi standard matters|date=August 8, 2018|website=HPE}}</ref> but is not yet widely implemented.