Safe use of WiFi hotspots

I would make the assumption that anything I am doing with public wifi can be monitored so act accordingly. I would not engage in any financial transactions involving access to accounts or credit card numbers. I think public wifi is fine for email, maps, access web sites for information. Now, in the all years we have traveled and used internet, we have never had a problem but there is always next time.

Any wifi safety issue would apply also to your home connection. As anybody could intercept your communications over wifi from the hotel room next door - as well anybody could intercept them from a car parked in the lane in front of your home. That is why the https protocol was introduced, offering some security on potentially public networks. As long as your transactions are on a web address beginning with https are relatively safe (I would not bet on NSA not intercepting them, but this would be a completely different issue). If safety is very important to you or you have to do business transactions, consider learning to use a VPN.

A much more serious issue would be the security of your macbook. Consider what would happen if it gets stolen. Its real value is not in the hardware (consider it as lost), but in the data stored on the hard disk. Hopefully, you have backed up your hard disk before leaving so all your past photos and written documents are not lost forever. Hopefully any sensitive data (passwords for bank accounts, financial data, important work documents) is saved on the hard disk in encrypted form so that a thief cannot empty your bank account or sell your trade secrets. Hopefully the password to encrypted data is in your mind and not written in your wallet or entrusted to the OS password manager, where if the master password is broken all the other ones are compromised as well. - These seem to me sensible precautions, not only when traveling but also at home. After all, my macbook is at home most of the time and that is the place where it could be more at risk.

just as lachera says, I'd be more worried about having it taken than shoulder surfers.

I had no issues with WiFi while in Rome last September. My hotel had a very strong signal. I was too busy seeing the sights to worry about WiFi out in the open so I can't say if that is even available, but I did see many people using various computers in multiple public places. As long as you only connect to sites through the https route, you should be secure enough to even do banking if you must.

Use it, don't do anything that you don't want out there , like banking, buying anything with a credit card...AND, expect a LOT of spam emails when you get home.

I always travel with and use my ipad...my junk mail box is full everyday with emails from the UK and Hong Kong, etc. I'm sure they got my email address from my use of wi-fi while in Italy and France.

I don't try to use wi-fi while mobile, I only get on line when I'm in a hotel.

I second the comments about your Mac being stolen or accidentally lost. I left my Iphone5 in a cab in Sicily, literally upon my arrival and route to the hotel. I was so tired, I didn't write down the cab number, like I usually do.... And traveling abroad, I turned off the data.... So needless to say, I never got it back. It had my bank app for me and my business.....so I had to hire an identity theft service to monitor my accounts. I would make sure you don't have any sensitive into like stored passwords.

Just remember that when you are using your laptop, you are very distracted from your surroundings. When you are distracted, then you are vulnerable to theft.

I travel with an IPad mini. I only use internet to check email, etc. Never do banking, etc. as I don't trust anything, or anyone.

If you want to use WIFI anywhere, invest in a reliable VPN service. Just because the site you are logging into is using the https protocol doesn't mean other can't see you and track you. Always assume your log-in attempts are being recorded, and your username/password is transmitted in the clear, on non-secure WIFI systems. It's the smart thing to do...

Most free wi-fi services work if you have an Italian SIM card at registration, as the confirmation messages get sent there.
As a general rule, try and download a VPN like Cloak - works seamlessly on macs and iphones and offers a 30 days free trial - used it while in Belgium and loved it!

I think public WiFi risks are over inflated. These days, even Youtube uses HTTPS for viewing their web pages! Many of the cautions people give you are from the early days of the web when things were not very secure and they live on because they keep getting repeated.

Nearly every banking site in the world has HTTPS encryption for your signon process. So, no, your ID and password is NOT sent in the clear it is encrypted between the screen on your computer and the bank. And once signon is completed, a second secure HTTPS link is established while you are viewing and working on your accounts.

Shopping sites encrypt the page where you enter payment info. You can also get one-time card numbers for some credit cards you have that allow you to purchase things online without giving out your real card number.

Most email is encrypted by default between your computer and the email service.

Because of this, it is very unlikely that anything of value could get taken from you while using public WiFi. But the chance does still exist that someone could sneak in over the connection and copy files from your computer and install a virus. Best defense against this is to turn on your firewall and block everything except basic web browsing and email ports.