Microsoft Defender Will Warn Users About Unsafe Wi-Fi Networks

Microsoft Defender has added public Wi-Fi security protection in 10 additional countries and is getting ready to do so in more, the company recently announced.

Public Wi-Fi can be a privacy nightmare, as attackers can leverage weak network security to siphon data from your device. To try and help prevent that, Microsoft Defender, which includes a VPN component, will now automatically detect suspect Wi-Fi networks and offer to kick in the VPN.

As of this week, Microsoft says that enhanced Wi-Fi detection with VPN activation is available on Android, and iOS in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany and that it’s “coming soon” to those platforms in 10 more countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

At the same time, Microsoft is also bringing “unsecure” Wi-Fi detection to more regions including the US, and says that it’s working with partners to expand coverage for the feature even further.

“Insecure Wi-Fi detection is now available in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany and is coming soon to 10 more countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America,” Microsoft said in a blog post. “Suspicious Wi-Fi detection is available on Defender for Android and iOS and will soon come to Windows and macOS, with enhanced detection capabilities coming to more countries soon.”

Microsoft has slowly been adding more security features to Defender, with the service recently adding protections for your Microsoft account and the ability to scan for leaked passwords. But at the same time, Microsoft has also faced criticism for pushing Defender on folks who might not need it and for not being transparent enough about how the service works with customer data.

Microsoft says that Defender’s Wi-Fi detection is rolling out to customers now.

Some functionality is still exclusive to Android and IOS.

You can download Defender by scanning this QR code: