How to Hack a Wi-Fi Network

I'm talking about sitting in the public gallery while the parliament is sitting, and being on the same Wi-Fi network. Could proximity get you in if you then had his thumbprint scanned? My understanding is no, but again, like I'm not a security person. Everything I've seen that's like hacking is really about getting a copy of something that somebody is doing. If they're not using a VPN, I can see what they're doing. It's not like you're in their computer. But I really want to know if I am just out of date or uninformed on this,. Like I'm super curious to find out.