Got phished at a coffee shop in Portland, or did I outsmart myself?

I was at a busy Starbucks off Burnside last Tuesday, jumped on their free WiFi to pay a bill, and then my bank flagged a login from a state I've never been to 10 minutes later. I panicked, shut my laptop, drove home, and changed every password while my phone hotspot was on, but I still can't tell if the fake login page tricked me or if the public network was just sniffed by someone else. Is it smarter to stick with public wifi and a VPN, or does that give you a false sense of safety that makes you sloppier?

1 comments

1 Comment

the_reese7d ago

You really think someone sat in that Starbucks waiting to snag your login in the ten minutes you were there? That's a lot of effort for one random bill payment. More likely you clicked a link that looked right but wasn't, and the fake page did its job. Public wifi with a VPN is fine, but it won't save you if you're typing your password into the wrong site. Just watch the address bar and you'll be okay.