Can my computer be hacked by using Wi-Fi

Introduction:

Today we are going to discuss a very popular topic of that is asked throughout the internet in many forums and question-answering sites.  The topic of this article is going to be - Can my computer be hacked by using Wi-Fi.

Now, if seen from different perspectives, there is different answers to this one question. Maybe you are thinking of a new perspective while the other person is thinking of another way.

But, don’t worry as in this single article we are going to discuss all the possible questions and answers related to the question -  can my computer be hacked by using Wi-Fi.

Use of Wi-Fi

To begin with, we generally use Wi-Fi on our mobile  & computers to receive or send data using the internet. While we can even share data between our devices without using it, still internet is the best option out there and we, everyone use it.

The internet is full of viruses and malware. If not used correctly and cautiously, it can lead us to different kinds of losses like - data loss, privacy loss etc. As we use the internet on our Wi-Fi devices, so we can’t say our devices are 100% secure.

We are going to device these articles into 3 parts. In the first part, we are going to see how are our computers hacked using Wi-Fi and in the 2nd part, we are going to discuss what type of device is more likely to get attacked. In the last and final part, we will look at the best ways to remain safe from it.

How do hackers hack your computer?

Hackers can hack your computer in mainly two ways:

1.      Indirectly by installing a hacking tool like virus or malware on your computer.

2.     Directly by accessing & using your network - Wi-Fi.

How are computers hacked using a computer using viruses:

As long as you are connected to the internet there are always threats around you to steal information from you - either by not hacking your PC or by hacking your PC.

Web browsing:

Generally, normal web browsing is considered to be safe. Popular sites like Google, Youtube, and Facebook have no virus at all. So there is no problem of getting hacked as long as you are on those sites.

But, our run in the world of the internet is not only limited to those most popular sites only. In different kinds of situations and problems, we often have to visit various kinds of non-dangerous and even dangerous sites too.

So how can we remain secure and un-hacked even if we are in some low-end dangerous site?

Downloading files:

First of all, don’t click any download link on any site that appears to be spam. These download files can contain many types of viruses by which hackers can hack your computer.

Now get back to the point,

How are computers hacked using Wi-Fi:

By the word - Computer we generally refer to two types of devices -

Devices meant by ‘Computer’:

1.      Desktop PC

2.     Laptops.

Desktop:

The first part is about Desktop PC and in this part we are going to analyze can your desktop PC be hacked using Wi-Fi.

Generally assembled PCs don’t have in-built Wi-Fi. That’s why we use Wi-Fi adapters to send or receive data from the Wi-Fi routers. Because desktop PCs are non-portable, that’s why it is obvious that we won’t use them anywhere else except our home.

In 99% of the cases, we remain connected to our home network. The home network remains connected with the router and the ISP (internet service provider) like Jio, Airtel, Vi etc.

And as our desktop PC remains directly connected to it, so there should not be any 3rd party between our device and the ISP.

As long as the condition remains the same (which is - nobody expects ourselves are connected to our network), it is fine to say that we are protected.

Laptop:

But if we talk about laptops, unlike desktops, we carry our laptops to different kinds of places. For doing work on our laptops, we connect our laptops to several other networks except for our home network.

This starts to cause problems of getting checked.

Do you know that as long as we are connected to the outer network our device, laptop in this case can be assessed using the network?

If we are connected to a vulnerable network, professional hackers with good knowledge of networking may hack our devices by using their ways. This kind of hacking is generally done via generating a payload.

Key takeaway:

So it turned out to be that.

• The internet is not too safe, so we have to be very very careful while browsing the internet. We have to make sure that we don’t click any spam links or download anything we don't trust from the internet. And that’s the first step to remaining secure.
• As long you are connected to your home network, if the network is secure, you are almost safe.
• But if you are connected to a public network, there is no guarantee that you are safe while using the network.

Answer to the question:

So the anser to the question is that,

Yes, your computer is unlikely to be hacked using Wi-Fi as long as you keep maintaining the security rules and not connect to any other network.

How to remain safe:

The first thing you have to ensure that you do not give the password of your Wi-Fi to someone else you don’t know.

You should change the password of your Wi-Fi from time to time to ensure that if your password gets leaked, you can change your password before anyone can access your account.

It is always advised that you should never connect to any public Wi-Fi. If there is no way either than connecting to the network, take proper care. You can even use any good VPN so that the public network can’t trace you  - what you are viewing and so on.