In regards to public wifi (wireless Internet), how many of us don't realize that we are allowing personal data to be compromised by prying eyes?
In your home, you might have a wireless router, so your laptop can connect to the Internet while you are lounging in the yard, watching TV or eating dinner. If you are security conscience, you enabled the router firewall, enabled WPA and set a good strong password so no one outside your family network can access your connection or hack into your computer. As long as your security is strong, you are probably very safe surfing wirelessly in your home.
To learn how to configure the security settings on a Linksys router, read the tutorial I wrote.
On the road, whether accessing the Internet from a Starbucks Coffee Shop, hotel, airport, or in an RV Park, chances are there is no security between your computer and the Internet. Access is left open, so it is easy for anyone to use. Keeping access open also allows data sniffers to grab any un-encrypted data you send over the air.
You might say to yourself, oh who cares? I am not surfing anywhere special so if someone wants to view my activity, let them!
Let's talk about why you should be concerned.
Now before you get too worried, let's look at what IS secure.
Any https (secure/locked) site. That means purchases made on Amazon.com (or other secure shopping sites) are safe no matter where you are browsing. Take a look at the address bar in your browser, if you see the https: as part of the URL, then you are safe. There should also be a little "lock" icon at the bottom in the status bar.
NOTE: don't assume you aren't secure, if you don't see the https displayed in the address bar. For example, it might not be a secure page where you type your member info at Amazon.com. But as soon as you hit the "Sign In" button, a script on a secure page is processing the data. You will then see the page url display https. Your member name and password have been encrypted and cannot be compromised.
I think I have found a good email solution for when we are away from home. Gmail from Google.com offers free web mail, along with a secure connection to access the mail. As long as you connect to your account using the https://gmail.google.com URL (and not through the http://gmail.google.com URL,) the connection remains secure and you can safely receive and send your email. Just keep checking the address bar for the https in the URL.
So how would a Gmail account help you? Well, if you set up your home mail account to forward a copy of each email to gmail, then you can access your mail through gmail.
When sending email, you have a choice to send as your home email or the gmail account. Click the Settings link in gmail. Navigate to the Accounts tab, and add the address of your main account to the "Send Mail As" list. Gmail has to verify the validity of your email, so make sure to complete this process when you are home and have access to your email accounts. After your email has been verified, you can compose a new message using any of your email addresses. Back in the Settings>Account tab, you can set which of your emails should be the default choice. Very handy I think.
Since Gmail offers over 2.5gb of file space, I am already using it as a backup for several email accounts. Gmail also offers POP Access, so when you are home, you can access your Gmail with Thunderbird and Outlook Express.
So how do you post new entries or images to your blog without compromising your user name and password with an insecure connection? Some blogging software offer a moblogging feature, which means that you can post entries through email instead of through the admin area of your blog. Set up your account to accept an email entry from your gmail account, and use Gmail's secure URL to post your new entries. (See above for gmail information.)
If you have your own hosting account (for your own domain web site), ask your hosting provider if they offer Shell Access (SSH.) If so, it could be possible to access your web site through SFTP. I have not personally used SFTP on any Windows software, but Filezilla is one client to look into, along with WinSCP. Both are free to download and use. For Mac OS X users, I recommend Transmit and also CyberDuck.
If you are a geek that likes to mess with deep complex projects, then configuring your own VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a great way to securely access the Internet while away from home. This subject is much too vast and complicated for this article, but if you check out the podcast mentioned in the next section below, you will find a ton of information.
In the meantime, there are commercial companies that allow you to sign on to their networks for secure surfing. Some of these companies are Anonymizer, HotSpotVPN, and PublicVPN.
Personally, I have used the services of HotSpotVPN and it worked very well. It was inexpensive, and I didn't experience any trouble browsing the Internet. It gave me peace of mind.
If you are curious to learn more about securing your wifi connection and general computing security, I highly recommend listening to the Security Now podcast. In plain English, Leo Laporte (of TechTV and Call For Help fame) and Steve Gibson (highly regarded security expert from GRC) explain how to keep your system safe on and offline. Besides the audio podcast, there are links to show notes and transcripts. I have learned a tremendous amount of information from listening to their shows each week. You do not have to have iTunes or an iPod to listen; you can listen to the audio right from the web site.
Bottom line, I am not saying that your data is going to be grabbed every time you browse the web using public wifi; in fact, you might be absolutely safe. But since there is no way for you to know when someone is sniffing for data, why take the chance? Keep your computer safe. Whether you are on a Windows or Mac system, always keep a firewall running, and disable file sharing for all programs and applications. Windows uses MUST keep their anti-virus and anti-spyware programs up to date.
That's all for now!
Articles on the subject
(Updated from January 29, 2006)
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