When you work from a rental or coworking space, treat its network as shared and untrusted. Ask who runs it, prefer WPA2 or WPA3 with a private password, keep work on HTTPS with MFA, and fall back to your own hotspot for sensitive tasks. Do not change router settings you do not own.
Why these networks differ from home
At home you know the router, its password and who has used it. A rental or coworking space gives you a network that previous guests or other members have also used. You may not know the router's age, firmware or who else holds the admin password. NIST SP 800-46 Revision 2 says remote access technologies, including client devices, should be secured against expected threats identified through threat models, and an unknown shared router is part of that model.
Questions to ask the host
- Is this network shared with other guests or members, or private to my booking?
- Is there a guest network separate from the management or office network?
- Is the Wi-Fi password changed between stays?
- Do you use WPA2 or WPA3?
The Wi-Fi Alliance notes that WPA3 gives users of WPA3-Personal increased protection against password guessing attempts. A password that never changes, shared with everyone, gives much less.
What you can check yourself
| Check | How | Concern |
|---|---|---|
| Security mode | Wi-Fi details on your laptop | Open or old modes |
| Network name | Compare to the host's sign | Look alike names |
| Other devices | Do not scan the network | See note below |
| Certificates | Browse a site you know | Any warning |
| Speed and drops | Test a call | Heavy sharing |
Do not scan or probe other devices on the network, even to check. In a rental or shared office that may break the host's rules or the law. Check your own laptop instead: confirm the firewall is on, file sharing is off and the network profile is set to public, if your system has that option.
Habits while working
- Use a password manager and MFA for every work account.
- Use your phone hotspot for cloud consoles, key work and first time logins. See Phone hotspot or hotel Wi-Fi for work.
- Turn off local servers bound to all interfaces. Bind dev servers to localhost.
- Lock the screen when you step away and use a privacy filter in open spaces.
- Keep smart speakers, cameras and other room devices off your work device's attention. Do not pair or join them.
When you leave
Forget the network, sign out of anything you opened on shared devices such as a printer or screen, and remove any files you saved there. If you printed anything sensitive, take the printout with you. Run the post trip review on return.
If you manage a travelling team
Put these rules into the one page travel policy, and give engineers a data plan sufficient for hotspot use.
Safeguard does not secure rented networks. It does dependency scanning, SBOMs and policy gates for the code you ship. Try the free scan.
Quick check
Can I ask the host to change router settings?
You can ask about them, but do not change them yourself. Use your own hotspot if the setup does not look acceptable.
Is a coworking space safer than a cafe?
Often a little, because access is limited to members, but you still share a network with strangers and a router you do not control.
Sources
- NIST SP 800-46 Rev. 2, Guide to Enterprise Telework, Remote Access, and BYOD Security
- Wi-Fi Alliance security overview
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
