[Rhodes22-list] WiFi Security on the Road (or Rhodes) Re: WiFi security

[Mary Lou Troy]

More and more places are offering free WiFi including our marina and 
Annapolis Harbor. When we went on our weeklong cruise we took the 
laptop and free WiFi at one of the marinas allowed us to set up what 
turned out the be a great meeting with Rory and his lovely wife 
Yvonne on Tighlman Island. Unless the new Fed. legislation 
discourages many of these places to give it up WiFi is going to 
become more and more ubiquitous. Even now there are warnings about 
hooking up to WiFi you don't recognize in airports and hotels as 
techy criminals are setting up their own routers in hopes of stealing 
ID and financial info. Criminals with sniffers have already been 
mentioned and are evidently real threats in some places.

So here's the question. One solution I've seen suggested is always 
using a virtual private network for your wireless connections on the 
road. These would (I think) provide the encryption Robert is talking 
about. If you work for a company, they often require that you use 
their VPN on the road. If you have a server at home always connected 
to the Internet you can set up your own VPN. Neither of those 
scenarios applies to us. I've been looking at hosted VPNs where for a 
fee that ranges from $40 to $200 a year you subscribe to someone 
elses VPN service such as Witopia ($40/yr), HotSpotVPN($102/yr) or 
JiWire Hotspot Helper ($25/yr). We already use firewall, antivirus 
and anti-malware tools. Does a hosted VPN work? Does it add another 
layer of security? My reading seems to suggest that it does but am I 
missing something?

Thanks,
Mary Lou


At 10:01 AM 12/8/2007, you wrote:
>Slim, et al.
>
>Herb is dead on.  Everything he says is correct.  Lock up your WiFi.
>
>Two more issues:
>
>* Your ISP is in a position to log all accesses from your router into
>the Internet.  If someone joins your WiFi net and is going thru your
>router into the Internet, you could be blamed for whatever they access.
>
>For example, the neighbor's nasty kid could send an
>email bomb threat to his school via your WiFi router.
>The address on the message would be yours.  You would
>have to prove that it wasn't you who sent it -
>difficult, if not impossible.
>
>* Whoever owns the WiFi net you are joining when on the road can see
>everything you send or receive - incloding your passwords, if not
>encrypted.
>
>For example, when you are in Podunk playing (insert
>name here), you slip over to a local Border's book
>store to do a little on-line banking.  Some savvy kid
>working at Borders has a sniffer (network analyzer)
>on the WiFi router.  It records all your
>transactions.  He can decrypt them later (if they
>are encrypted) at his leisure.
>
>/Robert
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Herb Parsons wrote:
> >
> > OK, don't want to be one of those "the sky is falling types", and
> > frankly the email below sort of got off topic a bit, but here goes:
> >
> > If you set up encryption on your WiFi at home, you don't have to deal
> > with the "hassle" of remembering the password. Most computers are (and
> > those few that aren't can be) set to "remember" your password for any
> > given SSID. I know that's probably Greek (maybe "geek"?) to you, but it
> > basically means you won't have to remember the password just to use your
> > WiFi.
> >
> > I'm going to precede this by saying most of the warnings I'm about to
> > give are "bad case" scenarios - definitely not "worst case", but they're
> > not likely to happen. The number of people with all the right
> > ingredients - skill to use your open system, desire to use your open
> > system, and proximity to use your open system - is really probably
> > pretty small; but then, do you REALLY want to take that chance?
> >
> > Your cavailer attitude is because you don't completely understand the
> > issue. First of all, you give a little away when you say "I do a little
> > online banking". Your mistaken if you think that the worst they could do
> > would be to transfer money from one account to another. With your bank
> > information, they can theoretically get enough  to transfer money from
> > your account to any account they want. It wouldn't be easy, but it could
> > be done.
> >
> > There are other issues though? Got any enemies? Shoot, you really don't
> > even need enemies, just someone out to have a little "fun" could do it.
> > Grab your system, put a few pics of naked little girls on it, then call
> > in an annonymous tip to the authorities. That's not NEARLY as hard as
> > the one listed above.
> >
> > Don't think of it only in the context of them being able to look at (and
> > use) the contents of your computer, think of as them being able to watch
> > everything you do on your computer, and even "become you" on it.
> >
> > Do you REALLY want that type of exposure?
> >
> > BTW, being behind a router doesn't protect you from them. They're
> > attaching to your wireless at the same point you are, on the same side
> > of your router.
> >
> > Securing the wireless isn't really hard to do. This site might help you
> > http://www.jiwire.com/wi-fi-security-home-networks-1.htm (I linked to
> > the pertinent part, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to read the whole thing).
> >
> > Steven Alm wrote:
> > ...
> > > One issue is that I do indeed have an open WiFi at my 
> home.  First, I don't
> > > even know how to set it up with a password and second, I'd 
> rather not have
> > > to put in a password every time I go online.  My wife would 
> also see that as
> > > extra hassle.  And why should I worry anyway?  All anyone would 
> find on my
> > > computer is a sh*t load of music and a lot of pictures of boats, email to
> > > you guys, and flight itinerary for my next trip.  The only 
> thing even close
> > > to being confidential is my folder where I keep info on my 
> travel expenses
> > > and other deductions.  Hardly worth anything to anybody but me.  I do a
> > > little online banking and some bill paying but that's all encrypted and
> > > password-protected.  I think the worst they could do would be to transfer
> > > money from my savings to my checking.  I check with the bank periodically
> > > and they have reported no Tomfoolery.  My apologies to anyone 
> named Tom and
> > > no implications are implied.
> > >
> > > The technology is bit over my head but since I use a router, doesn't that
> > > keep me safe?  I have, on occasion, snagged some one's private 
> WiFi signal
> > > so I could get on line but it never took me to their 
> computer.  Then again,
> > > I'm no hacker and wouldn't know where to begin.
> > ...
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>12/8/2007 11:59 AM