Here's what an eavesdropper sees when you use an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot

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Here's what an eavesdropper sees when you use an unsecu... - 1/26/2016 3:52:52 PM

crumpets

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Here's what an eavesdropper sees when you use an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot

quote:

it’s relatively easy to capture sensitive communication at the vast majority of public hotspots—locations like cafes, restaurants, airports, hotels, and other public places. You can snag emails, passwords, and unencrypted instant messages, and you can hijack unsecured logins to popular websites. Fortunately, ways exist to protect your online activity while you’re out-and-about with your laptop, tablet, and other Wi-Fi gadgets.

Moral of the story:
NEVER log into any web site from any Wi-Fi access point or wired access point without first enabling encryption such as SSL/TLS, Tor or VPN (all of which are free so there's no excuse not to protect your passwords and mails).

< Message edited by crumpets -- 1/26/2016 4:42:23 PM >

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Install the free Tor Browser Bundle web-only encryption - 1/26/2016 4:00:03 PM

crumpets

Posts: 1614
Joined: 11/5/2014
From: South Bay (SF & Silicon Valley)
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If you find that you must log into a web site from a local hotspot access point (or even from your own home router, either by Wi-Fi or by wire), then you must, at the very least, add your own free encryption before logging in!

The easiest way to add your own free encryption is to use the Firefox Tor Browser Bundle which works on all laptops and non-Apple smart phones.

Using tor is trivial as it takes only these three steps:
1. Download the free Tor Browser Bundle
2. Install the Tor Browser Bundle
3. Start the Tor Browser Bundle

The TBB is just a hardened Firefox, so if you use Firefox, it will look and act familiar to you.

< Message edited by crumpets -- 1/26/2016 4:50:36 PM >

(in reply to crumpets)

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Install the free OpenVPN client encryption - 1/26/2016 4:23:30 PM

crumpets

Posts: 1614
Joined: 11/5/2014
From: South Bay (SF & Silicon Valley)
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It is almost as easy to add free VPN encryption (virtual private network) to all your connections (which encrypts all ports, not just port 80 which the web uses).

Using VPN is not as easy as using tor, but it's still relatively easy as it takes only these three steps:
1. Download & install the free Openvpn Connect client

iOS

Android

Mac

Windows

Linux
2. Obtain free Openvpn configuration text files
2. Start the Openvpn Connect client using those freeware configuration files

OpenVPN encryption has the advantage that works on everything out there, including Apple products.