Crypto on public wifi: what is actually risky

Public wifi is less dangerous than it used to be, because almost everything is encrypted in transit. The real risks have moved.

What is largely solved

Reading your traffic. Modern sites use HTTPS, so the network sees which site you visited and little else.

What still bites

• Shoulder surfing. Unglamorous and effective. A phone camera behind you captures a seed phrase perfectly.
• Fake networks with names that look official, combined with a captive portal that asks you to install something. Never install anything to use wifi.
• The device itself. A borrowed or shared computer is the real danger, not the network.

Sensible practice

Use your own device. Check the domain in the address bar before pasting anything. Never enter a seed phrase anywhere, on any network. Save the large transfers for a network you trust.