UKC

Heard a bit about this on the news and was cautious when using a paid for hotel wifi. I have Norton Internet security but it seems that won't really help on a free hotspot. This surprised me as free wi fi seems to be more available these days.

Any guidance folks please?

In reply to fast eddie:



I never use anything that I don't need a password for, like in Hotels . But that is about my limit of what care I will take. However, I am not into online banking , but I have used PayPal and credit card on websites.

I will read and learn, from more savvy UKC posters

In reply to fast eddie:

Good question. Personally I avoid Free-WiFi in favour if using a 3G dongle, and my work insist on it if I am doing work related stuff. I would only use Free-WiFi for accessing stuff that is not important to me.

In reply to fast eddie:

You're sitting in a coffee shop. You see your phone has picked up 'coffee shop free wifi'. You log in to ebay, discover your bid has won, pay for it via paypal. Pay for your coffee, and leave.
Only it wasn't the 'coffee shop wifi', it was the bloke in the corner with a dongle, running a webpage that looked like 'coffee shop wifi'. And he now your ebay username & password and your paypal password. By logging into ebay as you, he can get your email address, and paypal login, and from there hazard a guess at all your other passwords and usernames. Are you getting scared yet?

In reply to mav:

No, because ebay + paypal use HTTPS connections so everything you send is encrypted.

In reply to JoshOvki:


Depends on the attack used. Lots of options, simplest being bounce them via a fake website and hope they dont notice the lack of encryption. Then getting more fun from there.

For OP. If you are going to use them then a VPN service is the safest, although not completely guaranteed.
I would go for using my own connection though.

In reply to fast eddie:


This issue is not with your laptop. It is the fact that open Wifi may not necessarily be encrypted and as a result, anyone can sit in the entrance hallway with an antenna and pick up your wifi communications.

And Norton Internet Security is a complete and utter pile of pish. If you are able to uninstall it without wrecking your laptop, I would do so. Microsoft Internet Essentials is more than adequate.