[Olivaw]

I will be travelling with my laptop and wonder if I can use it "on the road" or whether I have to wait until I arrive at my friend's place. I read a bit about wifi hotspots and it seems these are quite unsafe. Can someone explain in easy terms what dangers there are assuming I am not logging on to password protected sites or enter credit card details?

Also, somewhere on the net I read about encrypted VPN like Hotspot Shield or iPig (there is even an older thread here without any responses) - does anyone have experience with these solutions and can comment?

[etaf]

is this just to read email or use the web,
then you should be OK

make sure your pc has all the latest microsift secruity updates
have an uptodate virus checker
and a spyware checker
but you should have all these even at home or friends house

[lunarlander]

When you are at a hotspot, ask the deskclerk for the SSID name. Don't just attach to any network you can find. Hackers like to sit down and broadcast a ordinary sounding SSID which accepts network traffic and relays them, but then they get to see whats inside.

I took a look at the description of Hotspot Shield. Sounds like they set up an encrypted tunnel to their server, and then relays your traffic to its destination. They serve ads for a living. I guess it all depends if you trust them not to snoop on your traffic,

[mrss]

Originally Posted by lunarlander

When you are at a hotspot, ask the deskclerk for the SSID name. Don't just attach to any network you can find.

Very true. Get the info from the folks running the hotspot. Last summer on vacation, I came across questionable wifi at a coffee shop. Two networks available but the right one needed a password which you got if you bought some coffee. The other one could have been of the fakes mentioned above. It had almost the same name, but with an extra letter, and was an open network.

It would probably be a good idea to turn off file/printer sharing for the road on your laptop, if you had it turned on at home.

[Olivaw]

thanks guys - a fully patched system and some common sense will always go far but with respect to Hotspots, I am sure there are more specific things that should be done. Making sure to log on to the "official" network is good advice but I read that even if you do so, this being wifi anyone in the cybercafe or vicinity with the right type of sniffer software can intercept your packets? I am not sure where the "danger line" is and how at risk my laptop would be (again assuming fully patched, firewall etc). I don't care if someone sitting next to me knows that I am surfing to Tech Support or read my favourite newspaper online. What I worry is that more relevant info is being compromised and at present I don't really understand what the exact danger is. Is it only passwords compromised if entered for access to sites (ie avoid any sites that require login) or is my laptop at risk just by being turned on and connected to a Hotspot?

[lunarlander]

The danger of sniffers is always there. So anything that travels through the air is game for hackers.

If you're using Vista, change your Network Location type to Public, and it should close some ports for you. Uncheck File and Printer Sharing like mrss said, is another thing to do.

If you have VIsta Business or Ultimate, you can use the Mircrosoft Security Guide to harden your system :
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

For defense in depth, use a standard user account to surf. And leave your important files in another account. That way if they manage to hack in, the file and folder permissions will stop them from looking through your files. Enable EFS if you have it and have important information to protect. Also a standard user account will not let them install things onto your system.

[AKAJohnDoe]

The three main dangers of public WiFi hotspots are:

• Physical Security
• Wireless Security
• Network Security

Physical security is pretty obvious, but you would be surprised how many notebooks get stolen by distraction or simple grab and run.

Wireless security has already been touched upon in earlier posts, but without WEP/WPA/WPA2 and encryption, everything passing through the air is open for anyone to see. And of course, still to those with the keys.

Network security is the most troubling with public networks. You have to have some trust in the provider or restrict what you do on the network. The classic "man in the middle" attack comes into play here. Essentially, unless you know all the points, end to end, between your PC and the sites you are going to you cannot be assured that there is not someone "in the middle" observing or recording everything. A VPN can help with this, but it is not a perfect solution in all cases either.

As for my notebook being visible on the network; I run a software firewall on the PC.