WiFi Security

[Goober]

Some advice please

From what I understand free WiFi sites are prone, or can have someone hack into your computer etc - yes - no

I have Shaw -and a wireless router for my laptop- Ipad - and I will not do any banking on my laptop - Ipad as it is on WiFi. I have been told this is a secure net as it is password protected. I disagree. So what is the correct answer.

I prefer banking on a secure net - direct hook up to Internet. Am I being to cautious???? I think I am being smart about my net security.

 

[TenPenny]

Make sure you have a complicated WPA password. WEP is useless.

 

[Kakato]

Get an aircard,do your online banking that way,it only costs $70.00 a month and you will be secure.
Free internet comes with all kinds of crap.

 

[Goober]

Get an aircard,do your online banking that way,it only costs $70.00 a month and you will be secure.
Free Internet comes with all kinds of crap.

To expensive for what i would use it for. Travel a tad. Use WiFi for this, news, email etc. Just looking for advice on how secure home WiFi is????
I do appreciate the advice. Thank you

 

[skookumchuck]

As stated, WPA and a strong password makes you home WIFI as safe as anything can be. If using public WIFI watch out or 'Firesheep" will getcha.

 

[Goober]

As stated, WPA and a strong password makes you home WIFI as safe as anything can be. If using public WIFI watch out or 'Firesheep" will getcha.

Strength of passwords - 10-14 characters? Alpha Numeric - caps - small?? Advice please.

 

[DaSleeper]

My bank has it set up so that if let's say instead of using my notebook, I use my wife's, the bank will not recognize the MAC Address (every machine that connects to the Internet has a different one) and before asking for my password it will ask me another question that only I know the answer....
The same thing will happen if I try to log in from a different I.P. like in the summer when I'm on the road.
It's a bit of extra security, an extra step, but I don't mind
On the road I use my IPod to access my banking...I understand it's harder to hack over a wifi connection than a PC.
Plus I have my bank set up so that actualy, the only thing I can do on the net is pay bills that are already preset at my branch, transfer money internally between preset accounts eg. my wife's different accounts and mine..(Can't make any changes to that over the net)
So that if anyone would manage to hack into it the worst he could do would be to lock me out.
If that would happen, I would just do like I did when I accidentally locked myself out while on the road (But that's another story)
I just called the Branch manager(who knows my voice) and get it reset.:-(

As stated, WPA and a strong password makes you home WIFI as safe as anything can be. If using public WIFI watch out or 'Firesheep" will getcha.

Cookies from banks are encrypted non?

 

[skookumchuck]

Because you will seldom use your WIFI password, use a fairly long one, 10-14 digit, numbers as well as some upper and lower case letters. (write it down somewhere safe LOL)
I would worry more about the neighborhood kiddies using your network for downloading illegal stuff that will not show up on their parents home network.
@ DaSleeper,
I don't think it matters that bank cookies are encrypted if someone has your login and is using your network.

 

[DaSleeper]

If one want to be really secure, also don't broadcast your ssid and if really really paranoid about security enable access only to the specific Mac Addresses of your computers...:lol:

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Banking sites use HTTPS which has every packet secured and encrypted. I am not sure once connected the WiFi connection, regardless of security, data is actually encrypted.

 

[Goober]

If one want to be really secure, also don't broadcast your ssid and if really really paranoid about security enable access only to the specific Mac Addresses of your computers...:lol:

I took your advice, I will be going thru this link later in the week.

SSID - Service Set Identifier in Wireless Computer Networking

 

[DaSleeper]

Also if you're really worried about security, disable wifi networking between your different PC's and do any file transfers with a memory stick....

 

[Goober]

Also if you're really worried about security, disable wifi networking between your different PC's and do any file transfers with a memory stick....

I do that now.

 

[earth_as_one]

I'm an IT person. I used to teach security courses. My understanding is that no wifi is secure. All wifi is susceptible to the man in the middle attack. Hacker software can access any wireless network... given time. Different levels of security exists on wifi, but the most secure network remains no wifi and only physical cables. Someone would have to break into your home to intercept your internet traffic.

That said, when you visit a website and it switches to https, you are fairly secure with or without wifi.

 

[Kreskin]

I'm an IT person. I used to teach security courses. My understanding is that no wifi is secure. All wifi is susceptible to the man in the middle attack. Hacker software can access any wireless network... given time. Different levels of security exists on wifi, but the most secure network remains no wifi and only physical cables. Someone would have to break into your home to intercept your internet traffic.

That said, when you visit a website and it switches to https, you are fairly secure with or without wifi.

How does a site switch to https?

 

[earth_as_one]

You don't do anything. When you connect to a website, it can redirect you to an https link. Watch your url at the top of your web browser... Where you type in the web page name. If the website is secure, it changes from http:// to https:// the s in https means your connection is encrpypted. Even if someone intercepts your traffic they have to decipher it. https is pretty secure.

HTTP is unsecured and is subject to man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks, which can let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive information. HTTPS is designed to withstand such attacks and is considered secure against such attacks (with the exception of older deprecated versions of SSL).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Secure

 

[Goober]

You don't do anything. When you connect to a website, it can redirect you to an https link. Watch your url at the top of your web browser... Where you type in the web page name. If the website is secure, it changes from http:// to https:// the s in https means your connection is encrpypted. Even if someone intercepts your traffic they have to decipher it. https is pretty secure.

HTTP is unsecured and is subject to man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks, which can let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive information. HTTPS is designed to withstand such attacks and is considered secure against such attacks (with the exception of older deprecated versions of SSL).
HTTP Secure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just checked this on my bank site. Opens in HTTP, when you go to the login in changes to HTTPS. Thanks for the tip. Good to know.

 

[DaSleeper]

I just checked this on my bank site. Opens in HTTP, when you go to the login in changes to HTTPS. Thanks for the tip. Good to know.

IdRatherBeSkiing said that last night....
One extra protection you might take is after you log out of the bank site...go to internetOptions and delete all cookies and passwords...bear in mind that in doing so, all passwords are deleted such as forum passwords.

 

[Goober]

IdRatherBeSkiing said that last night....
One extra protection you might take is after you log out of the bank site...go to internetOptions and delete all cookies and passwords...bear in mind that in doing so, all passwords are deleted such as forum passwords.

I missed that. Thanks.