^^^ That sums it up. There are several different ways you could possibly be hacked when you connect to any public wifi network.
Get yourself a WiFi Pineapple Nano. Once someone connects to your network you can view the packets of information that gets passed to and from the computer
Yes and a number of different ways in going about it. Replicated join network, packet sniffing, leaving your laptop out in the open while you take a piss from all the coffee you drank. Just to name a few...
Yeah, physical access to a computer is a big one. Stupid is a real easy way into someone's computer, probably the easiest.
I thought about it far a minute and here is how I would do it. Set up my own wireless network with the same name or something similar. Then it forwards them via DNS server to my hacked version of terms and conditions. Once they agree I have complete control. It connects to the internet and allows them to browse. I look around the infected computer and the sensitive data I want. Every time that user connects from any network ill be informed. Now I'm inside their home and work networks. Once again snooping around taking sensitive data and infecting target users so I can propagate more attacks. Look up stuxnet.
All it takes is one time, can honestly say that ive never wanted to do such a thing. It's a white-hat ethic for myself, studying cyber security.
I notice grocery stores near me my internet doesn't work really well, at all. I wonder if they jam it so you must go onto their WiFi then they can see your traffic and advertise accordingly to the majority
This is a few years old so I doubt OP comes on here anymore. But yes to those who are currently active in this thread. Yes you can be hacked and have a lot of important info stolen... Far as researching how to do it, nobody needs to know that because OP was likely looking for how to do it so he or she could do this to others.