Just over a week ago, the latest WiFi standard, WPA2, was cracked. This will undoubtedly pose an even greater threat when connected to a network whether it is secured with a password or not. The WPA2 vulnerability can be combated in a couple ways as suggested in this blog post from Fortinet.
The first way to combat an attacker is to ensure the websites you browse are protected. This means websites that start with https:// as they encrypt anything you do within that website.
The second way is to get your computer set up with a VPN connection. This type of connection is similar to a HTTPS website in that it encrypts your browsing; however, everything you do while connected to a VPN is encrypted.
This announcement got me looking into creating a VPN server of my own to use in situations where I am on a public WiFi network or anywhere in general. I was successfully able to get OpenVPN installed on my Ubuntu server after following this easy-to-follow guide from Digital Ocean.
Be safe out there!