How risky is it to check my email on my smartphone on an open Wi-Fi network (i.e. Starbucks or Old Navy)? Is this only risky if someone is snooping? Do they have to be there, or can they leave a recording device and come back later to collect the data?
Specifically, what if I am checking my Yahoo mail? Can someone see and steal my password and then log into my email account?
Also, what if I am using webmail to check my personal domain email via SquirrelMail. I don't think it is an HTTPS connection. Does this matter, and will HTTPS help?
As you might guess, I'm bit clueless on this and want to know what the odds of anything happening are and how it would happen.
Update: based on the answer below, I'm updating this question:
When I access and log onto Yahoo mail, I see HTTPS in the browser so I'm assuming it is a safe connection and I'm safe to enter my password and log in. Please answer below if this is not correct.
What I have learned from the first answer was that logging into my domain webmail via a regular HTTP link is risky. I checked and I can log into my webmail the following way (I've modified the URLs below to remove personal info)...
This leads me to: https://serverZ.myhost.com:2096/unprotected/redirect.html?goto_uri=
I enter my user name and password in the popup window and hit enter
Now I am logged in at: https://serverZ.myhost.com:2096/cpsess#######/webmail/x3/?login=1 and I can read my emails.
Does the above way of logging into webmail via the HTTPS route seem safe on an open Wi-Fi network? Can I relax now, or should I worry?