Securing my wifi internet connection..but im using a public wifi through a caravan park so there are many othe

Question

there are many users but im worried about people looking into what i use on he interenet...are thereany steps etc....this is not my wifi connection but is owned by the owner of the site that we are staying on

Answer 1

If the park doesn't use encryption (you don't have to enter a password to connect to the wireless network) you can not "secure" your communications "easily"...

The only way to do it is to find a location that DOES have secure communications and create a VPN tunnel to that location and have all of your communications go through THAT VPN tunnel and out through that internet connection.

Anyone in the trailer park, or in a car near the park, could (with the proper tools, knowledge AND desire - and that is the KEY here... The knowledge and tools are readily available if you know where to look...) monitor your traffic between you and any non-encrypted site.  Even when going to a SECURE site, they can grab your session cookie and connect to the site "as you, already logged in".

Do NOT do any banking etc, through this "open" WiFi connection.

The only way you are going to get a truly secure session is going to be to get your own internet connection, and if you use wireless, make sure to use WPA or WPA2 with a GOOD pass phrase (at least 16 random letters-both upper and lower case,numbers, characters.)

Answer 2

If you aren't the owner of the wireless connection you can't secure it.  Even if you could anyone who is allowed to connect can still 'see' (not that everyone sees everyone else's info but if they want to do bad things and monitor the traffic they could) all the information that's sent.

You have a couple choices:

1. avoid doing anything like banking or online purchases on that connection

2. get a dial-up service for things you're concerned about (and disconnect from wireless when you use it)

3. look into your own private internet connection such as a cellular modem (or using your cellphone to connect) and forget about the free wireless

Answer 3

There is no way you could secure the connection so that no one can ever find out what you're doing. Unless you're the owner of that connection, which you aren't, you can't just expect surfing on the net to be 100% private without some kind of hacking program.

You could however, use your own account when surfing and don't let anyone else access your computer. This won't help a lot but at least it'll be one step closer to privacy.

Answer 4

I suggest you check into two things:  be sure your system has a firewall to prevent unwanted intrusions and get a tool which lets you set up a "virtual private network" between you and the site's Internet access point.  The firewall protection usually comes with Windows or a quality anti-virus product.  The VPN tool is something you'll need to search for at CNET or Google.